504< Rev. W. V. Harcourt on Lord Brougham's statements 



by an induction of the like kind we find him showing it to us 

 as the principle by which metals gain weight from the air, 

 and vegetables germinate and grow, and undergo an obscure 

 fermentation [cestum obscurum] in their life and their decay*, 

 — lastly, when we find him ascribing to the same principle the 

 phaenomena of respiration, and representing the reduction of 

 this gas from the elastic to the fixed state by its union with 

 the blood, in the lungs and elsewhere, as the cause of its 

 change of colour, its heat and its aptness for stimulating the 

 heart and exciting muscular motion f — in contemplating so 



madvertendum est insuper quod non tantum in rebus solidis, sed etiam in 

 liquoribus, sal acidum, sive achor, spiritus nitro-aerei actione producatur." 

 " Prarterea nescio an non spiritus acidi e lignis ponderosis distillati, simili 

 ratione per ignis operationem inter distillandnm riant." " Illud etiam obiter 

 annotamus, quod spiritus acidi e saccharo, et melle, distillati, haud multum 

 absimili ratione, per actionem spiritus nitro-aerei ignei, fieri videantur." 

 "Liquorum autem fermentatio in eo consistit, quod particular nitro-aerear 

 aut liquori insitce, aut aliunde advenientes, cum particulis liquoris salino- 

 sulphureis [basic] efFervescunt." " Hue etiam spectat, quod vina, aut 

 cerevisia generosiora, radiis solaribus diu exposita, aut in loco calido de- 

 tenta, processu temporis in acetum commigrant." " Ex iis quae dicta sunt 

 haud difficile erit intellectu quomodo spiritus acidus nitri in terra gen e- 

 ratur.'' "Et ita demum ostendere conatus sum, quod salia quaecunque 

 acida a particulis salinis, spiritus nitro-aerei ope, ad fluorem sive fusio- 

 nem evectis producantur." " Quoad difFerentiam liquorum acidorum, 

 earn a diversitate salium e quibus iidem constituuntur procedere putandum 

 est, uti etiam ex eo, quod salia fixa, nunc magis, nunc vero minus a spiritu 

 nitro-aereo alterantur, exacuenturque; et tamen inter salia acida quaecunque 

 affinitas magna est et similitudo; inque iis omnibus particular nitro-aerear- 

 igneaeque veluti in subjecto idoneo hospitantur." " Particular terra? salinae 

 hoc modo ad fluorem evectae hospitium idoneum fiunt, in quo particular 

 nitro-aereae recondantur detineanturque : ab iis autem utrisque strictim 

 unitis spiritum nitri, qualis distillatione elicitur constitutum esse arbitror." 



* " In ortu vegetabilium spiritus nitro-aereus in motu et vigore positus, 

 sulphur in statu fixo existens adoritur, quo tandem ad volatilitatem per- 

 ducto, spiritus nitro-aereus in salinis vinculis incarceratus figitur." "Nostra 

 fert opinio etiam fermenlationem ad vegetabilium interitum tendentem a 

 particulis nitro-aereis et salino-sulphureis, se invicem commoventibus, pro- 

 cedere." " Spiritus nitro-aereus a conjuge sua salina violenter abruptus 

 motu suo impetuoso omnia perturbat, mixtique compagem solvit." " Ea 

 quar spiritum nitro-aereum excludunt res a corruptione vindicant." He in- 

 stances fruits, flesh and butter, as being preserved from putrefaction, and 

 iron from rust by things which exclude this gas, especially inflammable 

 things, such as oil. 



f " Queniadmodum particular nitro-aerear terrar spiracula'lente sub- 

 euntes, ibidem cum particulis salino-sulphureis, iis vero immaturis, arstu 

 obscuro congrediuntur, a quo vegetabilium vita dependet — ita particular 

 eardem nitro-aerear magis confertim in cruoris massam pulmonum ministerio 

 introductar, particulisque ejus salino-sulphureis ad justum vigorem evectis 

 quoad minima admixtar, fermentationem satis insignem, qualis ad vitam 

 animalem requisita est, efficiunt." — p. 147. He states that the colour of 

 arterial blood has been shown by Lower, to be owing to the admixture of 

 air with it in the lungs, and lays it down, that the heat of the body is due 



