Ill 



PARTICULAR, CONSIDERATIONS 



EESPECTIXG THE 



OEIGIN Or THE ANIMATED TEIBES. 



PROBABILITY being shown as in favour of a natural mode of 

 origin for living beings, it becomes necessary to inquire how 

 far the notion is countenanced by the constitution of organic 

 bodies, and if any trace is observable in organic nature of such 

 a means and method on the part of its Creator. 



To the generality of men of science, it either appears that 

 the origin of the animated creation is an impenetrable mystery, 

 or that, by reason of the invariable production of like by like 

 in our age, we only can suppose for it an origin exceptive in 

 its character from the ordinary procedure of the deity in 

 nature. Nevertheless, there are many facts which very much 

 favour the idea that a rise of life out of inorganic elements is 

 within the scope of the natural operations of deity, albeit we 

 cannot pretend to know much of the absolute character of life 

 itself. 



First, with regard to the constituents of organic bodies, it 

 is found that they are merely a selection of the elementary 

 substances which form the inorganic or non-vitalized world. 

 Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, are the chief. The 

 first combinations of these in animals are into what are called 

 proximate principles, as albumen, fibrin, urea, &c., out of which 

 the animal body is composed. So far from there being any- 

 thing peculiar or mysterious in these combinations, it is ac- 

 knowledged that they are simply chemical. " It is now cer- 

 tain," says Dr. Daubeny, of Oxford, " that the same simple 

 laws of composition pervade the whole creation ; and that if 

 the organic chemist only takes the requisite precautions to 

 avoid resolving into their ultimate elements the proximate 



