164 LARGE AMOUNT OF ALKALIES 



and that not combined with sulphuric or phosphoric 

 acids, but with carbonic, benzoic, or hippuric acids. 



66. These well-established facts demonstrate 

 that the herbivora consume a far larger quantity 

 of soda than is required merely for the supply of 

 the daily consumption of blood. In their food are 

 united all the conditions for the production of a 

 second compound of soda, destined for the support 

 of the respiratory process ; and it can only be a very 

 limited knowledge of the vast wisdom displayed in 

 the arrangements of organized nature which can 

 look on the presence of so much soda in the food 

 and in the urine of the herbivora as accidental. 



It cannot be accidental, that the life, the develope- 

 ment of a plant is dependant on the presence of the 

 alkalies which it extracts from the soil. This plant 

 serves as food to an extensive class of animals, and 

 in these animals the vital process is again most 

 closely connected with the presence of these alkalies. 

 We find the alkalies in the bile, and their presence 

 in the animal body is the indispensable condition 

 for the production of the first food of the young 

 animal ; for without an abundant supply of potash, 

 the production of milk becomes impossible. 



67. All observation leads, as appears from the 

 preceding exposition, to the opinion, that certain 

 non-azotised constituents of the food of the herbi- 

 vora (starch, sugar, gum, &c.) acquire the form of 

 a compound of soda, which, in their bodies, serves 

 for the same purpose as that which we know cer- 



