NATURE OF ORGANIC CHEMICAL PROCESSES. 53 



cyanilic acid, oxalic acid, formic acid, melam, am- 

 melin, melamin, azulmin, melton, hydromellonic 

 acid, allantoin, fyc. It is well known, that all these 

 very different substances can be obtained from hy- 

 drocyanic acid and the elements of water, by vari- 

 ous chemical transformations. 



The whole process of nutrition may be understood 

 by the consideration of one of these transformations. 



Hydrocyanic acid and water, for example, when 

 brought into contact with muriatic acid, are decom- 

 posed into formic acid and ammonia ; both of these 

 products of decomposition contain the elements of 

 hydrocyanic acid and water, although in another 

 form, and arranged in a different order. The change 

 results from the strong disposition or struggle of 

 muriatic acid to undergo saturation, in consequence 

 of which the hydrocyanic acid and water suffer 

 mutual decomposition. The nitrogen of the hydro- 

 cyanic acid and the hydrogen of the water unite 

 together and form a base, ammonia, with which 

 the acid unites ; the chemical characters of the 

 acid being at the same time lost, because its desire 

 for saturation is satisfied by its uniting with am- 

 monia. Ammonia itself was not previously present, 

 but only its elements, and the power to form 

 it. The simultaneous decomposition of hydro- 

 cyanic acid and water in this instance does not 

 take place in consequence of the chemical affinity 

 of muriatic acid for ammonia, since hydrocyanic 

 acid and water contain no ammonia. An affinity 



