39 A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION OF|

“To this process of oxygenation, the continuance of ve- 4 getable matter on the surface of the earth is principally to|

be ascribed; asin the case of peat mosses, fens, and mo-

rasses, as well as in most soils, but more especially in such as have long been under cultivation... The inde-| structible state of vegetable matters, under these circum-| stances, and their constant accretion, may be referred to

the insoluble compounds, produced by the action of pure ij

air on thése inflammable substances.

‘The insolubility, to a certain degree, of this system, adopted by nature, is undoubtedly to be preferred to one more completely soluble; for itis evident, that if putre- faction, or oxygenation, had possessed the power of ren-

dering all the vegetable matter, by a speedy process,

soluble in water, two pernicious consequences must

have followed: The rains would have washed down such

extracts, and soluble matters, as fast as formed, into the rivers and springs, contaminating the waters, and ren- dering them unfit for the existence of fishes, or for the use of terrestrial animals. The sea, in process of time, would thereby receive all the vegetable and animal pro- luce of the dry land, and the earth would ultimately be-

come

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