OF BODIES DESTITUTE OF NITROGEN. 333 



gen, but a corresponding quantity of carbonic acid 

 gas had not been formed. The hydrogen and oxy- 

 gen had disappeared in exactly the same proportion 

 as that in which they combine to form water ; a true 

 combustion of the hydrogen, therefore, had been in- 

 duced by mere contact with matter in the state of 

 eremacausis. The action of the decaying substance 

 here produced results exactly similar to those effect- 

 ed by spongy platinum ; but that they proceeded 

 from a different cause was shown by the fact that 

 the presence of carbonic oxide, w^hich arrests com- 

 pletely the action of platinum on carburetted hydro- 

 gen, did not retard in the slightest degree the com- 

 bustion of the hydrogen in contact with the decaying 

 bodies. 



But the same bodies were found by De Saussure 

 not to possess the property just described, before 

 they were in a state of fermentation or decay ; and 

 he has shown that even when they are in this state, 

 the presence of antiseptic matter destroys completely 

 all their influence. 



Let us suppose a volatile substance containing a 

 large quantity of hydrogen to be substituted for the 

 hydrogen gas in De Saussure's experiments. Now, 

 the hydrogen in such compounds being contained in 

 a state of greater condensation would suffer a more 

 rapid oxidation, that is, its combustion would be 

 sooner completed. This principle is in reality at- 

 tended to in the manufactories in which acetic acid 

 is prepared according to the new plan. In the pro- 

 cess there adopted all the conditions are afforded 

 for the eremacausis of alcohol, and for its consequent 

 conversion into acetic acid. 



The alcohol is exposed to a moderate heat, and 

 spread over a very extended surface, but these con- 

 ditions are not sufficient to effect its oxidation. 

 The alcohol must be mixed with a substance which 

 is with facility changed by the oxygen of the air, 

 and either enters into eremacausis by mere contact 

 with oxygen, or by its fermentation or putrefaction 



