SUBJECT OF THE WORK. 23 



port of this work is, to elucidate the chemical pro- 

 cesses engaged in the nutrition of vegetables. 



The first part of it will be devoted to the exam- 

 ination of the matters which supply the nutriment 

 of plants, and of the changes w^hich these matters 

 undergo in the living organism. The chemical com- 

 pounds which afford to plants their principal con- 

 stituents, viz. carbon and nitrogen, will here come 

 under consideration, as well as the relations in which 

 the vital functions of vegetables stand to those of the 

 animal economy and to other phenomena of nature. 



The second part of the work will treat of the 

 chemical processes which effect the complete de- 

 struction of plants and animals after death, such as 

 the peculiar modes of decomposition, usually de- 

 scribed 2iS fermentation y putrefaction, and decay ; and 

 in this part the changes w^hich organic substances 

 undergo in their conversion into inorganic com- 

 pounds, as well as the causes which determine these 

 changes, will become matter of inquiry. 







.*t^ 



