CONTENTS. 



Object of the Work 9 



PART FIRST. 



ON THE CHEMICAL PROCESSES IN THE NUTRITION OF VEGETABLES. 



t0 AFTER PAGE 



I. On the Constituent Elements of Plants 10 



II. On the Assimilation of Carbon 12 



III. On the Origin and Action of Humus 23 



IV. On the Assimilation of Hydrogen 27 



V. On the Origin and Assimilation of Nitrogen .... 30 



VI. On the Inorganic Constituents of Plants .... 36 



VII. The Art of Culture 43 



VIII. On the Alternation (Rotation) of Crops .... 54 



IX. On Manure 59 



Supplementary Chapter. On the Chemical Constituents of Soils . 70 



Appendix to Part 1 84 



PART SECOND. 



ON THE CHEMICAL PROCESSES OP FERMENTATION, DECAY, AND PUTREFACTION. 



CHAPTER PAQK 



I. Chemical Transformations 87 



II. On the Causes which effect Fermentation, Decay, and Putre- 

 faction 88 



[II. Fermentation and Putrefaction 90 



IV. On the Transformation of Bodies which do not contain Nitro- 

 gen as a constituent, and of those in which it is present 92 



V. Fermentation of Sugar 95 



VI. Eremacausis, or Decay ....... 98 



VII. Eremacausis of Bodies destitute of Nitrogen: Formation of 



Acetic Acid . . . . . . . . . 100 



VIII. Eremacausis of Substances containing Nitrogen: Nitrification 102 



IX. On Vinous Fermentation : Wine and Beer . . . . 103 



X. On the Decay of Woody Fibre 110 



XL On Vegetable Mould 112 



XII. On the Mouldering of Bodies : Paper, Brown Coal, and Mi- 

 neral Coal 112 



XIII. On Poisons, Contagions, and Miasms 115 



Appendix to Part II 129 



Index 131 



