10 
together ^ of the whole air employed. Thus, says 
he, if seeds be made to germinate in 10O cubic inches 
of air, which contain 21 parts of oxygen and 79 of 
nitrogen gas, it will be found, that, if the germination 
has produced 14 cubic inches of carbonic acid, there 
remain but seven cubic inches of oxygen in the resi- 
dual air > or, if only seven cubic inches of acid are 
formed, there will then remain 14 of oxygen gas. 
The volume of oxygen consumed is, therefore, equal 
to that of acid gas produced ; and this result as yet 
admits of no exception *. In such circumstances, 
the carbonic acid, which seeds are capable of afford- 
ing under decomposition, cannot be supposed to mix 
with that formed in germination, unless we not only 
reject the evidence derived from identity of volume 
between the two gases, but admit the apparent absur- 
dity of believing, that, in the same body, the act of 
decomposition can consist with the function of life. 
For these reasons we adhere to our former opinion, 
that, in germination, carbonic acid is formed only by 
the union of the carbon of the seed with the oxygen 
gas of the air, and that the whole of the oxygen that 
is lost is to be found in the carbonic acid produced. 
214. But though, in germination, the conversion 
of oxygen gas into carbonic acid is by no one de- 
nied, yet by some it is maintained that a part only of 
this gas is so changed, and that another portion of 
it is absorbed by the seed. The vague and indefinite 
use of the word absorption has, perhaps, contributed 
not a little to obscure the reasonings on this subject^ 
* Recherches Chim, p. 10. 
