TO THE FARMER. O 



it has acquired a spirituous flavor, and possesses 

 heating and intoxicating properties, which had no 

 existence in the must. Vinegar is altered tuine : it 

 has an acid smell and taste, in lieu of the spirituous 

 qualities of wine, and, when taken as a beverage, 

 acts no longer as an intoxicant, but as a refrigerant 

 and sedative. We must look in the atmosphere 

 for the vjood or oil which have vanished by combus- 

 tion, for by this process both these substances are 

 converted into vapor or gas ; if in this transformation 

 heat and light are simultaneously developed, it is ac- 

 companied by the phenomenon of fire. Of like char- 

 acter are the alterations which animal and vegetable 

 substances undergo when kept for a long-continued 

 space of time ; they are gradually converted, as they 

 putrefy or decay, into gases of various kinds, some 

 of which possess a very disagreeable odor. 



Such processes, by lohich not merely the external 

 form, but the whole essential nature, of bodies become 

 completely changed, are called chemical processes, or 

 chemical action ; by their agency, often with the phe 

 nomena of heat and fire, bodies are so radically al 

 tered in weight, form, solidity, color, taste, smell 

 action, etc., that new bodies with entirely new prop 

 erties are formed from them. Wherever we glance 

 upon our earth, we behold proof of chemical action 

 on the land, in the air, in the depths of the sea, in 

 the inanimate stone, no less than in the living tribes 

 of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The hardest 

 stone becomes gradually friable, changes its color, 

 1* 



