OF BODIES CONTAINING NITROGEN. 247 



of the products, and in their formation the whole 

 of the elements have assisted. 



These examples show, that the results of decom- 

 position by fermentation or putrefaction compre- 

 hend very different phenomena. The first kind 

 of transformation is, the transposition of the 

 elements of one complex compound, by which new 

 compounds are produced with or without the 

 assistance of the elements of water. In the pro- 

 ducts newly formed in this manner, either the 

 same proportions of those component parts which 

 were contained in the matter before transformation, 

 are found, or with them, an excess, consisting of 

 the constituents of water which had assisted in pro- 

 moting the disunion of the elements. 



The second kind of transformations consists of 

 the transpositions of the atoms of two or more com- 

 plex compounds, by which the elements of both 

 arrange themselves mutually into new products, 

 with or without the co-operation of the elements of 

 water. In this kind of transformations, the new 

 products contain the sum of the constituents of all 

 the compounds which had taken a part in the 

 decomposition. 



The first of these two modes of decomposition is, 

 that designated fermentation, the second putrefac- 

 tion ; and when these terms are used in the follow- 

 ing pages, it will always be to distinguish the two 

 processes above described^ which are so different in 

 their results. 



