32 CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS IN RELATION 



is decomposed, its separation ceases, beginning again only on a new addition of 

 sugar ; and this continues until the fluid contains an excess of sugar. 



THE FORMATION OF YEAST, ALCOHOL, AND CARBONIC ACID ARE 

 MUTUALLY DEPENDENT UPON EACH OTHER. 



From these facts we evidently obtain a reciprocal relation of dependence, as 

 required by chemical theory, between the form and properties of the sulphurous 

 and nitrogenous body which is converted into yeast, and the new forms and pro- 

 perties contained in the atom of sugar ; and it is clear that the condition in which 

 the elements of the former s-tand during their association with the yeast, and their 

 falling asunder into other products, is the cause of the manner in which the sugar 

 separates. No organic beings or animals similar to fungi, have ever been observed 

 in any other form of separation of sugar, as, for instance, in its transition into 

 lactic acid by means of an animal membrane, or in its transition into mannit, gum, 

 butyric acid, acetic acid, &c. ; nor in any other process of putrefaction or fermen- 

 tation, have organic beings been perceived, which appearing invariably in the same 

 forms, control the nature of the products. 



VIBRIONES IN THE URINE. 



In many cases the presence of vibriones is detected in the urine during its state 

 of putrefaction, while in other cases, when the urine putrefies, it is impossible to 

 discover any organized being, and if the absence of vegetable or animal organism 

 is certain in one single case, where fresh urine has been decomposed by the 

 putrefying white deposit which occurs in a state of putrefaction, the fact is per- 

 fectly sufficient to remove every doubt of the true cause of the putrefaction. 



FUNGI CONTAIN SUGAR. 



If further we show that, in all hitherto examined fungi, analysis has yielded a 

 quantity of sugar, which during the process of life did not pass into alcohol and 

 carbonic acid, but that, in the same fungi, spirituous fermentation occurs imme- 

 diately after their death, and from the moment when a change in the color and 

 properties is perceived, every analogy is wanting to justify our regarding the vital 

 process of these plants as the cause of fermentation. The action must rather be 

 ascribed to the reverse of a vital process.* 



CHANGE IN THE PROCESS OF PUTREFACTION IN HEATED AIR. 



We may consider it as proved by the most admirable experiments, that the 

 process of putrefaction in meat and many other animal substances assumes a totally 

 different form, when these substances have been preserved in vessels containing 

 heated air, and when consequently there can be no co-operation of infusoria ; yet 

 these animal substances by no means, under these circumstances, maintain their 

 original condition ; they change their color and composition, and if the water 

 necessary to complete decomposition of the meat be present, it dissolves after a 

 certain period into a most offensive mass.f We need only recall to mind the 



* Schlossberger, Annalen dlir Pharmacie, Vol. lii. p. 117. 



f De Saus&ure in his beautiful investigations observed the fact that hydrogen at a 

 glowing heat obtained by the decomposition of aqueous vapour by means of iron, and 



