79 



table oeconomy, cannot therefore be in the least doubted. Nor 

 can there exist the least impropriety, in considering these sub- 

 stances, as well as phosphorus and sulphur, when thus imbibed, as 

 constituting a part of the actual food of plants. 



The subject of the present letter may have been unexpected ; 

 but be assured, it was necessary to be discussed, before we could 

 enter more fully into the peculiar object of our enquiry. A very 

 little consideration will shew you, that we should be able to make 

 but a trifling progress in an examination into the subsequent 

 changes which these bodies undergo; unless we had first ascer- 

 tained the substances which had entered into their original compo- 

 sition. 



Yours, &c. 



LETTER IX. 



RESOLUTION OF VEGETABLES INTO THEIR FIRST PRINCIPLES.... 

 PIRST STEP IN THE MINERALIZATION OF VEGETABLES... .VE- 

 GETABLE MOULD.. ..IGNIS FATUUS. 



1 N tracing the transition of vegetable matter, into a mineral state, 

 it is proper to commence our remarks by an examination of the 

 changes which plants undergo, immediately on the extinction of 

 vegetable life. 



When from accident, or in consequence of the attainment of the 

 full period of maturity, a tree or a forest falls, a resolution of 



