ON THE NITROGEN OF PLANTS. 
of azotized matters in plants is augmented by giving them a 
large supply of ammonia, conveyed in the form of animal 
manure. 
No conclusion can then have a better foundation than this, 
that it is the ammonia of the atmospherewhich furnishes nitro- 
gen to plants. 
Carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, contain the elements 
necessary for the support of animals and vegetables. The 
same substances are the ultimate products of the chemical 
processes of decay and putrefaction. All the innumerable 
products of vitality resume after death the original form 
from which they sprung; and thus death, — the complete disso- 
lution of an existing generation, — becomes the source of life 
for a new one*" 
