mbinations that take place
during the several stages of the decomposition of vegetables, present us
with a new set of compounds, well worthy of our examination.

CAROLINE.

How is it possible that vegetables, while putrefying, should produce any
thing worthy of observation?

MRS. B.

They are susceptible of undergoing certain changes before they arrive at
the state of putrefaction, which is the final term of decomposition; and
of these changes we avail ourselves for particular and important
purposes. But, in order to make you understand this subject, which is of
considerable importance, I must explain it more in detail.

The decomposition of vegetables is always attended by a violent internal
motion, produced by the disunion of one order of particles, and the
combination of another. This is called FERMENTATION. There are several
periods at which this process stops, so that a state of rest appears to
be restored, and the new order of compounds fairly established. But,
unless means be used to secure these new combinations in their actual
state, their duration will be but transient, and a new fermentation will
take place, by which the compound last formed will be destroyed; and
another, and less complex order, will succeed.

EMILY.

The fermentations, then, appear to be only the successive steps by which
a vegetable descends to its final dissolution.

MRS. B.

Precisely so. Your definition is perfectly correct.

CAROLINE.

And how many fermentations, or new arrangements, does a vegetable
undergo before it is reduced to its simple ingredients?

MRS. B.

Chemists do not exactly agree in this point; but there are, I think,
four distinct fermentations, or periods, at which the decomposition of
vegetable matter stops and changes its course. But every kind of
vegetable matter is not equally susceptible of undergoing all these
fermentations.

There are likewise several circumstances required to produce
fermentation. Water and a certain degree of heat are both essential to
this process, in order to separate the particles, and thus weaken their
force of cohesion, that the new chemical affinities may be brought into
action.

CAROLINE.

In frozen climates, then, how can the spontaneous decomposition of
vegetables take place?

MRS. B.

It certainly cannot; and, accordingly, we find scarcely any vestiges of
vegetation where a constant frost prevails.

CAROLINE.

One would imagine that, on the contrary, suc