220 CHEMICAL TRANSFORMATIONS. 



When, by means of the chemical affinity of a 

 second body, by the influence of heat, or through 

 any other causes, the composition of an organic 

 compound is made to undergo such a change, that 

 its elements form two or more new compounds, this 

 manner of decomposition is called a chemical 

 transformation or metamorphosis. It is an essen- 

 tial character of chemical transformations, that 

 none of the elements of the body decomposed are 

 singly set at liberty. 



The changes, which are designated by the terms 



fermentation, decay, and putrefaction, are chemical 



transformations effected by an agency which has 



hitherto escaped attention, but the existence of 



which will be proved in the following pages. 



ON THE CAUSES WHICH EFFECT FERMENTATION, 

 DECAY,* AND PUTREFACTION. 



ATTENTION has been recently directed to the 

 fact, that a body in the act of combination or de- 

 composition exercises an influence upon any other 

 body with which it may be in contact. Platinum, 

 for example, does not decompose nitric acid ; it 

 may be boiled with this acid without being oxidised 



* An essential distinction is drawn in the following part of the work, 

 between decay and putrefaction (Verwesung und F'dulniss\ and they are 

 shown to depend on different causes ; but as the word decay is not gene- 

 rally applied to a distinct species of decomposition, and does not indi- 

 cate its true nature, I shall in future, at the suggestion of the author, 

 employ the term eremacausis, the meaning of which has been already ex- 

 plained. TRANS. 



