OF BODIES WHICH DO NOT CONTAIN NITROGEN. 305 



those elements group themselves anew, according to 

 their special affinities. 



The proofs of the existence of this cause of action 

 can be easily produced ; they are found in the char- 

 acters of the bodies which effect fermentation and 

 putrefaction, and in the regularity with which the 

 distribution of the elements takes place in the sub- 

 sequent transformations. This regularity depends 

 exclusively on the unequal affinity which they possess 

 for each other in an isolated condition. The action 

 of water on wood, charcoal, and cyanogen, the sim- 

 plest of the compounds of nitrogen, suffices to illus- 

 trate the whole of the transformations of organic 

 bodies ; of those in which nitrogen is a constituent, 

 and of those in which it is absent. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF BODIES WHICH DO NOT CON- 

 TAIN NITROGEN AS A CONSTITUENT, AND OF THOSE IN 

 WHICH IT IS PRESENT. 



When oxygen and hydrogen combined in equal 

 equivalents, as in steam, are conducted over char- 

 coal, heated to the temperature at which it possesses 

 the power to enter into combination with one of 

 these elements, a decomposition of the steam ensues. 

 An oxide of carbon (either carbonic oxide or car- 

 bonic acid) is under all circumstances formed, while 

 the hydrogen of the water is liberated, or, if the 

 temperature be sufficient, unites with the carbon, 

 forming carburetted hydrogen. Accordingly, the 

 carbon is shared between the elements of the water, 

 the oxygen and hydrogen. Now a participation of 

 this kind, but even more complete, is observed in 

 every transformation, whatever be the nature of the 

 causes by which it is effected. 

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