HISTORY OF GEINE. 79 



and important facts relating to what he then called, 

 from its analogies, ulmin. For all practical purpos- 

 es, the distinction was enough. When a few years 

 after, his attention was accidentally called to soil, 

 the name of Berzelius, geine, was given by him to 

 the whole organic matter of mould, or humus, and 

 that matter was also, as a convenient practical divis- 

 ion, separated into soluble and insoluble, including 

 the various geic salts, which he detected in soil. In 

 the edition of Berzelius, above cited, two other or- 

 ganic compounds are noticed, as being among the 

 general products of putrefaction, traces of which 

 Berzelius noticed in soil. These were called crenic 

 and apocrenic acids, from " Jcrene" Greek, for foun- 

 tain, having been first detected in spring water. 

 The French for spring, being "source" as if to 

 make confusion worse confounded, Mitscherlich, cal- 

 led these " sourcic and oxygenated sourcic acid." 



The presence of nitrogen was detected by Berze- 

 lius, in crenic and apocrenic acid. This sufficiently 

 distinguished them from geine, extract of, and car- 

 bonaceous mould. Though these acids were detect- 

 ed after the name of geine had been applied, yet 

 the presence of nitrogen in these, would at once 

 have led Berzelius to examine geine anew, if he 

 had any suspicion that it contained that element, or 



