ORGANISED AND UNORGANISED SUBSTANCES. 11 



element, i.e., an element peculiar to organisms no more exists than 

 does a vital force working independently of natural and material 

 processes. Also with reference to the method of arrangement of the 

 atoms, organic and inorganic substances have been erroneously put in 

 sharp contrast ; and the whole of the carbon compounds have been 

 contemplated as the products of organisms only. Now, however, it 

 has been shown for some time not only that the atomic arrangement 

 and constitution of both are explained by the same laws, but also 

 that a great many of the former (urea, alcohol, vinegar, sugar) can 

 be artificially built up by synthesis from their elements. These 

 facts point to the probability that many other organic substances 

 will be synthetically produced, and among them, albumin ; and they 

 also permit us to conclude that in the origination of organised bodies 

 the same forces were in action which are sufficient for the formation 

 of unorganised bodies. The functions peculiar to organisms, viz., 

 metabolism, movement, growth, are accordingly to be referred to the 

 properties of the chemical compounds composing them, and particu- 

 larly to the complicated molecular arrangement of living matter. 



Nevertheless, this important property of living things, viz., meta- 

 bolic action, may under certain conditions be temporarily suppressed, 

 without thereby depriving the organism of the power of existence. 

 By removal of water or of heat it is possible, in the case of many of 

 the lower organisms and their germs, to suspend the vital processes 

 for months and even years ; and then to restore the apparently life- 

 less body to the full exercise of its vital properties by the simple 

 addition of water or warmth (eggs of Apus, Ostracoda, Anguillula 

 tritici, Rotifera frogs, water insects, plant seeds). 



Finally, the living body is distinguished by its entire form, and by 

 the manner in which its various parts are connected together ; in 

 other words, by its organization. The form of a crystal, the in- 

 organic individual, is unchangeable, and is 1 bounded by straight lines 

 meeting at determined angles, and by plane, rarely spherical surfaces, 

 which are capable of mathematical expression. The shape of 

 organisms,* on the other hand, in consequence of the semifluid con- 

 sistency of the material composing them, is less sharply determinable 

 and is within certain limits variable. Life manifests itself as a con- 

 nected series of ever-changing states ; and the movements of matter 

 are accompanied by growth and change of form. 



* The fact that there arc a number of solid excretion products of organisms 

 (shells) whose form is mathematically determinable does not of course annul 

 this distinction. 



