THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XXXI, 
No. 368. 
AUGUST, 1858. 
Fourth Series, 
No. 44. 
SOME OE THE COMPOUNDS RESULTING FROM 
THE DECOMPOSITION OF VEGETABLES. 
The varied changes that take place below the earth's 
surface, by the force of affinity acting upon the elements of 
decomposing vegetable matter, are extremely interesting, and 
give rise to the formation of well-known compounds, alike 
valuable in a commercial and domestic point of view. 
By them the indispensable article coal, in its many kinds, 
is produced. Then there are lignite, which may be viewed 
as coal in its incipient state, and bog-earth, or peat, in which 
the vegetable appears to have undergone but little alteration ex- 
cept that which results from saturation with water and pressure. 
There are few persons unacquainted with peat, but all are 
not aware of the many substances obtainable from it by 
chemic aid. It has been proposed to. make paper from it, 
and by its compression an admirable fuel results ; excellent 
charcoal is also procured from it by combustion, the uses 
of which it is not necessary even to name. We have prin- 
cipally to notice other, and perhaps more interesting com- 
pounds, which are formed by the separation and reunion of 
its elements, through the interposition of operating forces. 
Subjected to destructive distillation, in a furnace resembling 
an iron blast-furnace, which is closed at the top and connected 
with a condensing apparatus, a fluid mixed with much tarry 
matter passes over. The fluid furnishes ammonia, acetic acid, 
and wood-spirit. The tarry portion is made to yield paraf- 
fine, naphtha, some brown oils, and inflammable gases. We 
will, however, give a more detailed account, showing how 
these are rendered available as commercial articles, premising 
that the only necessary elements for the formation of these 
many compounds, are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with a 
little nitrogen ; so that they all result from different propor- 
xxxi. 56 
