experiments depends: We must always suppose an exact quantity between the elements of the body examined and those products of its analysis.
Hence, since from must of grapes we procure alcohol an d carbonic acid, I have an undoubted right to suppose that must consists of carbonic acid and alcohol. From these premises, we have two methods of ascertaining what passes during vinous fermentation, by determining the nature of, and the elements which compose, the fermentation substances, or by accurately examining the products resulting from fermentation; and it is evident that the knowledge of either of these must lead to accurate conclusions concerning the nature and composition of the other. From these considerations, it became necessary accurately to determine the constituent elements of the fermentable substances; and, for this purpose, I did not make use of the compound juices of fruits, the rigorous analysis of which perhaps impossible, but made choice of sugar, which is easily analyzed, and the nature of which I have already explained. This substance is a true vegetable oxyd with two bases, composed of hydrogen and charcoal brought to the state of an oxyd, by certain proportion of oxygen; and these three elements are combined in such a way, that a very slight force is sufficient to destroy the equilibrium of ther connection. By a
