ADVANCED BY LIEBIG AND OTHERS. 
7 
the active influence of alcohol upon the animal nerves be 
due merely to the situations occupied by its three ultimate 
ponderable elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, relatively 
to each other? Admitting that the union of oxygen with 
the ingredients of gluten could, by imparting any conse- 
quent mechanical impulses, cause the hydrogen and oxy- 
gen of an atom of water to unite with the elements of sugar, 
and to separate into alcohol and carbonic acid, as above 
mentioned, how can that movement, or the consequent re- 
arrangement of the ponderable particles, explain the acqui- 
sition of new properties, of which the combining atoms, or 
the compounds previously containing them, were destitute? 
Liebig infers, that a body in the act of decomposition or 
combination, may communicate a movement to the atoms 
of an adjoining compound, so that gluten in the state of 
oxidation, in which it is called yeast, induces sugar, C 12 H 11 
O 11 , existing in the same liquid, to unite with the elements 
of water, making C 12 H 12 O 12 , and consequently to be re- 
solvable into four equivalents of carbonic acid and two of 
alcohol. 
Adopting the same views as Liebig, Dr. Kane alleges, 
"that the slow decomposition of diastase communicates to 
the molecules of many thousand times its weight of starch, 
the degree of motion necessary for their rearrangement, 
and the appropriation of the elements of water requisite for 
the formation of starch sugar." 
It is perfectly evident that the particles of the catalyzed 
substance are in some way so affected by the catalyzing 
body, as to be put into a state of reaction, which had not 
otherwise ensued ; but that this is accomplished merely by 
imparted motion, appears to me to be a surmise destitute 
of plausibility. The fact that the weight of the diastase 
requisite to saccharify starch is so very small, as is alleged 
by Dr. Kane, evidently renders it extremely improbable 
that it acts by creating any mechanical disturbance. Yet 
this respectable chemist is so completely carried away by 
