OF BODIES DESTITUTE OF NITROGEN. 



arrests completely the action of platinum on 

 carburetted hydrogen, did not retard in the 

 slightest degree the combustion of the hydrogen in 

 contact with the decaying bodies. 



But the same bodies were found by De Saussure 

 not to possess the property just described, before 

 they were in a state of fermentation or decay ; and 

 he has shown that even when they are in this state, 

 the presence of antiseptic matter destroys com- 

 pletely all their influence. 



Let us suppose a volatile substance containing a 

 large quantity of hydrogen, to be substituted for 

 the hydrogen gas in De Saussure's experiments. 

 Now, the hydrogen in such compounds being con- 

 tained in a state of greater condensation would 

 suffer a more rapid oxidation, that is, its combus- 

 tion would be sooner completed. This principle is 

 in reality attended to in the manufactories in which 

 acetic acid is prepared according to the new plan. 

 In the process there adopted all the conditions are 

 afforded for the eremacausis of alcohol, and for its 

 consequent conversion into acetic acid. 



The alcohol is exposed to a moderate heat, and 

 spread over a very extended surface, but these 

 conditions are not sufficient to effect its oxidation. 

 The alcohol must be mixed with a substance which 

 is with facility changed by the oxygen of the air, 

 and either enters into eremacausis by mere contact 

 with oxygen, or by its fermentation or putrefac- 

 tion yields products possessed of this property. 



T 2 



