408 



state of vinous fluid, weak spirit, strong spirit, or even of alcohol, or 

 ether, is subject to precisely the same decomposition, under favour- 

 able circumstances for such changes, without any action upon, or re- 

 lation to the water which may happen to be combined with it in each 

 kind of liquor. This olefiant gas cannot, either by distillation or other 

 means, be separated along with any of the water with which it is at 

 first combined, and again united with the same materials, without 

 forming a compound different from the original one : and in propor- 

 tion as water is, by any means, removed, we obtain it in a somewhat 

 different state ; and this happens without reference to a separate and 

 distinct substance which we may call alcohol, or ether. Thus neither 

 of these two ill-defined substances ought to be regarded as a separate 

 and distinct principle ; but the whole series of bodies, from the weak- 

 est fermented liquor, separated from its vegetable matter, to the most 

 highly rectified ether, consist only of different combinations of olefiant 

 gas, the first product of vinous fermentation, and water. 



11. " On the Chemical Changes occurring in Seeds during Ger- 

 mination." By the same. 



The author infers, from his researches on the subject of his second 

 paper, that during the process of germination there is a production 

 of alcohol, and that oxygen unites with olefiant gas, under the influ- 

 ence of the radicle and plumula. He accounts for the increase of 

 temperature during germination by an alleged difference in the spe- 

 cific heats of the principles before and after that process has com- 

 menced ; but the methods he employed for establishing the reality of 

 this difference are not detailed. 



The following are the principal conclusions to which the author 

 arrives : 



1. Seeds may, by careful desiccation, be deprived of much water 

 without injuring their vegetating organs. 



2. Their capacity for absorbing water varies with the temperature 

 at which they are kept. 



3. The increase taking place in their volume by the absorption of 

 water is influenced by temperature. 



4. On steeping seeds in water at one temperature the vinous fer- 

 mentation takes place, but at another this process does not occur. 



5. A decomposition takes place in seeds previously to their germi- 

 nation, and the products are carbonic acid and olefiant gas. 



6. The abstraction of carbon from seeds by the oxygen of the at- 

 mosphere is not, as is generally supposed, the specific action which 

 gives rise to germination ; but it rather conduces to putrefaction. 



7. The germination of seeds appears to be an action taking place 

 between the olefiant gas, which has been previously formed by a vinous 

 fermentation, and the oxygen of the atmosphere; and is effected by 

 the peculiar operation of the plumula and the rootlets. 



8. This decomposition and combination of the different elements 

 go on, in well-regulated processes, as long as there is any farinaceous 

 matter to be decomposed : the food of the plant being at this time 

 always the oxygen of the atmosphere, and the newly-formed olefiant 



