CT.X, 



H 



Kra 



sdif, 





-W'n th 



r. 



7, 



efal. 



• ^" the fo 



onth 



ccal. 



'fionofh 



ftroi 



eat 



^geracid 



limefto 



neij 



1 



and is dif. 



> as It cools 



} 



-"^rth, wbich 

 d animal bo- 



or 



nitrogen, 

 js they exift 



Dte the gene- 

 ;hus to 



,tsofvegeta- 

 :nathoftime 



oal-beds, and 



;h other 

 remain 



a 



111' 





O 



^nic <"»'"' 



f 







M '' ^ 



/a 



blorbiii 







of 



vvatci" 



y 



aD' 



bably 



Sect.X. 4.4 



MANURES 



3 



probably of combining with Its amn^onia, and producing a kind of he- 

 par carbonis, and thus facilitating vegetation. The pradice of bu- 

 rying dead bodies fo few feet below the furface is a proof of this ; as 

 the putrid exhalations from the carcafs are retained, and do not pene- 

 trate to the furface. On the fame account the air over new plough- 

 ed fields has long been efteemed falutary to invalids, or convalef- 



:re. But it was 



carbon, or charcoal, abforbs with fuch 



probably purifies the fupernatent atmofph 



not till lately known th 



dity all putrid exhalat 



f 



h 



be 



tly burnt 



and has not been already faturated with them, infomuch that putrid 

 flefh is faid to be much fweetened by being covered a few inches with 



the powder of ch 



by being buried for a time in black 



o-arden mould ; as putrid exhalations confift chiefly of ammonia, hy- 

 drogen, and carbonic acid, and are the immediate produfls of the 

 dilfolution of animal or vegetable bodies, they are believed much to 

 contribute to vegetation : as whatever materials have conftituted an 



body, may again after a certain de 



of diffolution form 



part of another organic body. The hydrogen and azote produce am- 

 monia, which combining with carbon may form an hepar carbonis, 

 and by thus rendering carbon foluble in water may much contri- 

 bute to the growth of vegetables. 



It has been faid, that fome morafles have prevented the animal bo- 

 dies, which have been buried in them, from putrefa6tion ; which may 

 in part have been owing to the great attradion of the carbon of the 

 morafs to putrid effluVia, and in part perhaps to the vitriolic acid, 



which fome moraffes are faid 



4 



Here 



important queft 



by what oth 



means is 



this folid carbon rendered fluid, fo as to be capable of entering the 



fine mouths of vegetable abforbent 



The carbon, which 



fts 



the atmofphere, and in limeftone, is united with oxygen, and thence 

 becomes foluble or difFufible in water ; and may thus be abforbed by 



the living adion of vegetable vefleli 



Dd 



may b 



o 



combined by 



chemical 



V 



