DEDICATION. 



mental culture is most beneficial ; and the new views acquired 

 by the knowledge of them enable the mind to recognise, in the 

 phenomena of nature, proofs of an Infinite Wisdom, for the 

 unfathomable profundity of which language has no expression. 



At one of the meetings of the Chemical Section of the " British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science," the honorable task 

 of preparing a Report upon the state of Organic Chemistry was 

 imposed upon me. In the present work I present the Association 

 with a part of this report. 



I have endeavored to develope, in a manner correspondent to 

 the present state of science, the fundamental principles of 

 Chemistry in general, and the laws of Organic Chemistry in 

 particular, in their applications to Agriculture and Physiology ; 

 to the causes of fermentation, decay, and putrefaction ; to the' 

 vinous and acetous fermentations, and to nitrification. The con- 

 version of woody fibre into wood and mineral-coal, the nature of 

 poisons, contagions, and miasms, and the causes of their action 

 on the living organism, have been elucidated in their chemical 

 relations. 



I shall be happy if I succeed in attracting the attention of men 

 of science to subjects which so well merit to engage their talents 

 and energies. Perfect Agriculture is the true foundation of all 

 trade and industry — it is the foundation of the riches of states. 

 But a rational system of Agriculture cannot be formed without 

 the application of scientific principles ; for such a system must 

 be based on an exact acquaintance with the means of nutrition 

 of vegetables, and with the influence of soils and actions of 

 manure upon them. This knowledge we must seek from Che- 

 mistry, which teaches the mode of investigating the composition 

 and of studying the characters of the different substances from 

 which plants derive their nourishment. 



The chemical forces play a part in all the processes of the living 

 animal organism ; and a number of transformations and changes 



