I 
ADDITIONS TO CHAP. VL 
OF THE PHENOMENA WHICH ARISE FROM THE CHANGES 
INDUCED ON THE AIR BY THE LIVING FUNCTIONS 
OF VEGETABLES AND ANIMALS. 
679. .IN this last chapter of oiir work, we endea- 
voured to prove that the extrication of the subtile 
matter of caloric constitutes the only observed phe- 
nomenon that attends the conversion of oxygen gas 
into carbonic acid in the processes of vegetation and 
respiration. In proof of this extrication of caloric, 
it was shewn (165.), that oxygen gas possesses a large 
portion of specific heat ; that, by the conversion of 
this gas into carbonic acid, its heat (166.) is necessa- 
rily set free ; and that vegetables and animals, which 
produce this particular change in the air, exhibit, in 
consequence, a higher degree of temperature. To 
the evidence adduced in support of these positions 
we have now but little to add, which we the less re- 
gret, as the facts already stated appear sufficient to 
establish the general inferences deduced from them. 
