; but we have at length, I think, brought the subject to a
conclusion.

CAROLINE.

I rather wonder that you did not reserve the account of the
fermentations for the conclusion; for the decomposition of vegetables
naturally follows their death, and can hardly, it seems, be introduced
with so much propriety at any other period.

MRS. B.

It is difficult to determine at what point precisely it may be most
eligible to enter on the history of vegetation; every part of the
subject is so closely connected, and forms such an uninterrupted chain,
that it is by no means easy to divide it. Had I begun with the
germination of the seed, which, at first view, seems to be the most
proper arrangement, I could not have explained the nature and
fermentation of the seed, or have described the changes which manure
must undergo, in order to yield the vegetable elements. To understand
the nature of germination, it is necessary, I think, previously to
decompose the parent plant, in order to become acquainted with the
materials required for that purpose. I hope, therefore, that, upon
second consideration, you will find that the order which I have adopted,
though apparently less correct, is in fact the best calculated for the
elucidation of the subject.

CONVERSATION XXIII.

ON THE COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS.

MRS. B.

We are now come to the last branch of chemistry, which comprehends the
most complicated order of compound beings. This is the animal creation,
the history of which cannot but excite the highest degree of curiosity
and interest, though we often fail in attempting to explain the laws by
which it is governed.

EMILY.

But since all animals ultimately derive their nourishment from
vegetables, the chemistry of this order of beings must consist merely in
the conversion of vegetable into animal matter.

MRS. B.

Very true; but the manner in which this is effected is, in a great
measure, concealed from our observation. This process is called
_animalisation_, and is performed by peculiar organs. The difference of
the animal and vegetable kingdoms does not however depend merely on a
different arrangement of combinations. A new principle abounds in the
animal kingdom, which is but rarely and in very small quantities found
in vegetables; this is nitrogen. There is likewise in animal substances
a greater and more constant proportion of phosphoric acid, and other
saline matters. But these are not essential to the formatio