NITROGENIZED VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 179 



the non-azotized elements of food, that they are food 

 for the liver, since they contain the elements, by the 

 presence of which that organ is enabled to perform its 

 functions, so we may consider these nitrogenized com- 

 pounds, so remarkable for their action on the brain and 

 on the substance of the organs of motion, as elements 

 of food for the organs as yet unknown, which are des- 

 tined for the metamorphosis of the constituents of the 

 blood into nervous substance and brain. Such organs 

 there must be in the animal body, and if, in the diseased 

 state, an abnormal process of production or transforma- 

 tion of the constituents of cerebral and nervous matter 

 has been established ; if, in the organs intended for this 

 purpose, the power of forming that matter out of the 

 constituents of blood, or the power of resisting an 

 abnormal degree of activity in its decomposition or 

 transformation, has been diminished ; then, in a chemi- 

 cal sense, there is no objection to the opinion, that 

 substances of a composition analogous to that of ner- 

 vous and cerebral matter, and, consequently, adapted 

 to form that matter, may be employed, instead of the 

 substances produced from the blood, either to furnish 

 the necessary resistance, or to restore the normal con- 

 dition. 



95. Some physiologists and chemists have expressed 

 doubts of the peculiar and distinct character of cerebric 

 acid, a substance which, from its amount of carbon and 

 hydrogen, and from its external characters, resembles a 

 nitrogenized fatty acid. But a nitrogenized fat, having 

 an acid character, is, in fact, no anomaly. Hippuric 



