us 



ON THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD, &c. 



nearly the whole of the azote, a considerable portion of the carbone, and 

 a certain quantity of the hydrogene, would escape also — leaving behind 

 the remainder of the carbone and the hydrogene, now incapable of escape 

 if om the want of oxygene to give wings to their flight, together with the 

 residual earth of the animal machine. 



But hydrogene and carbone, though in this case incapable of sublima- 

 tion for want of oxygene, would still, from their mutual attraction and 

 juxta-position, enter into a new union and produce a new result, and this 

 result must necessarily be fat ; for fat is nothing else than a combination, 

 in given proportions, of carbone and hydrogene. And hence^ whatever 

 the respective animal organs of the bodies deposited in these burial caverns 

 may have antecedently consisted of, whether muscle, ligament, tendon^ 

 skin, or cellular substance, when thus deprived of their oxygene and azote* 

 the whole must of necessity be converted into fat. Pure and genuine fat 

 it would have been, provided there had been nothing left behind but mere 

 carbone and hydrogene, and in their respective proportions for the forma- 

 tion of fat ; but as we can scarcely conceive such proportions could take 

 place, or that every corpuscle of the azote could be carried off before the 

 total escape of the oxygene, many parts of it must necessarily have as- 

 sumed a flaky; soa})y, or waxy appearance, from the union of the azote left 

 behind, with some portion of the hydrogene, and the consequent produc- 

 tion of ammonia or volatile alkali ; since, by an intermixture of alkali with 

 fat, every one knows that soap or a saponaceous substance is uniformly 

 produced. 



But, excepting in situations of this kind, in reality, in every situation in 

 which dead animal matter, destitute of its living principle, is exposed to 

 the usual auxiliaries of putrefaction, putrefaction will necessarily ensue, 

 and the balance will be fairly maintained : — the common elements of vital 

 organization will be set at liberty to commence a new career, and the 

 animal world will restore to the vegetable the whole which it has antece- 

 dently derived from it. 



In this manner is it, then, that nature, or rather that the God of nature, 

 is for ever unfolding that simple but beautiful round of action, that circle 

 of eternal motion, in which every link maintains its relative importance, 

 and the happiness of every part flows from the harmony of the whole. 

 Can we, then, do better than conclude with the correct and spirited apos- 

 trophe of one of our most celebrated poets : — 



Look round the world ! behold the chain of love 



Combining all below and all above. 



See plastic nature working to this end ; 



Atoms to atoms— clods to crystals tend.* 



See dying vegetables life sustain ; , 



See life dissolving, vegetate again. — 



All serv'd, all serving, nothing stands alone, 



The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown. 



* This line is altered to answer the present purpose in a better maoner. 



