ORGANIC ELEMENTS OF SOIL. 59 



in their combinations. It is an established fact, that 

 all complex compounds, are unstable. They are 

 prone to form new combinations. The more com- 

 plex, the easier decomposed is any compound. The 

 more complex, the more liable to decomposition. 

 Hence, the moment life departs, the plant or animal, 

 speedily undergoes new changes, its elements, which 

 life had organized, obey now, not the law of life, 

 but the laws of chemistry. The solids and fluids 

 of a living body, when life ceases, escaping in part 

 as air or gas, leave in a solid form, a substance, dif- 

 fering equally from any living organic product, and 

 from inorganic elements. The product of the spon- 

 taneous decomposition of organic substances, still 

 may exhibit the character which distinguishes this 

 division, viz : complexity, great susceptibility and 

 ease of decomposition. 



100. Hence, in the products of the decomposition 

 of organic bodies, a variety is formed, differing ac- 

 cording to the circumstances, and the time, and 

 progress of decay. However varied, there is one 

 constant product of organic decomposition in soil, 

 which is, ever the result of that process, in or upon 

 the earth. This product is termed Geine. Ge is 

 the Greek for earth, and the suffix ine, is in confor- 

 mity to chemical names, given to those vegetable or 



