198 ON THE COMPOSITION OF SOILS, &C. 



and hastening putrefaction ; but as before shown? 

 lime possesses a directly opposite quality; it not 

 only prevents, but arrests putrefaction, and is 

 therefore in fact, antiseptic ; and it is the action 

 of this principle which renders soils prolific. 

 Lime m, certainly, a most powerful agent in the 

 decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, 

 but it is on a principle more analogous to that 

 of fire \ as in the instances before stated, it not 

 only prevents the effects of putrefaction, which 

 are obnoxious to vegetables, but it accelerates 

 the formation of those compounds which are 

 essential to fertility. 



It is stated in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 

 " Where the ground has been suffered to remain 

 " uncultivated for many ages, producing all 

 " that time succulent plants, which are easily 

 " putrefied, and trees, the leaves of which, like- 

 " wise contribute to enrich the ground, by their 

 "falling off and mixing with it, the soil will in a 

 " manner be totally made up of pure vegetable 

 " earth, and be the richest when cultivated, that 

 " can be imagined* This was the case with the 

 " lands of America ; they had remained unculti- 

 " vated perhaps since the creation, and were 

 " endowed with an extraordinary degree of fer- 

 " tility ; nevertheless, we are assured by one 

 '* who went to America, in order to purchase 



