No; it is found in a solid state in many minerals, as in marble, &c., and is then called water of Crystallization. It is essential, in many cases, to their solidity and transparency.
Essential, necessary.
Transparency, clearness, the power of transmitting light.
Does Nature decompose Water in any of her operations?
Yes: every living vegetable has the power of decomposing water, by a secret process peculiar to itself. Fish, too, and all cold-blooded amphibious animals are gifted with the same power.
Decomposing, separating a mixed body into its several parts.
Amphibious, able to live both in water and out of it.
Of what use is this power to vegetables?
The water which they decompose affords them nourishment for the support of their vital juices, and enables them, by combining the fluid gases which compose it with those of the air and the soil, to form their different products; while the superfluous gas is abundantly given out by their leaves, to refresh the spent air, and render it wholesome for the animals that breathe it.
Vital, belonging to life, necessary to existence.