CONCLUSION. 343 



The volume contains original analyses ; and the composition of most of these substances 

 had not been previously investigated in this country, except to a very limited extent. In 

 preparing the work for publication, I could not feel satisfied with giving the results of 

 others ; although they may have been obtained by chemists before whom I could. lay no 

 claim to distinction, still our own soils and grains, our own products, were the ones which 

 required this kind of labor. This view of the subject has always been entertained by my- 

 self; and though I felt an interest in the analyses which have been made in Europe, still 

 they do not, as it appears to me, give that full information which we want. I have been, 

 as will be seen, influenced by this view of the subject in taking up for analysis so many 

 kinds of food, and other productions of the earth, and attempting thereby to furnish that 

 kind of information which seemed so important respecting their composition, I have not 

 attempted to deduce, from these analyses, all the inferences which may clearly be drawn 

 from them. Hence they stand more as facts, which may be used in various ways for 

 illustrating the economy of the vegetable kingdom. 





