THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



SEPTEMBER, 1831. 



Art. I. An Essay on the Analogy betvoeen the Structure and 

 Functions of Vegetables and Animals* By William Gordon, 

 Esq., Surgeon, Welton, near Hull. Read before the Hull 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, November 19. 1830. Com- 

 municated by Mr. Gordon. 



Philosophers have divided the immense variety of objects 

 presented to us in nature into three grand classes or king- 

 doms ; the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal. The sub- 

 stances belonging to the first of these divisions, in consequence 

 of their not being actuated by that incomprehensible principle 

 denominated life, have been termed unorganised; vi^hile plants 

 and animals, which are influenced by vital lavt^s, are distin- 

 guished by the name of organised beings. Although the 

 distinction between organic and inorganic bodies is universally 

 acknowledged to be sufficiently clear, yet there are some phy- 

 siologists who contend that the boundary between them is 

 less extensive than it is generally represented to be, and main- 

 tain that there is considerable analogy between crystallisation 

 and the growth of animals. I shall not occupy time by dis- 

 cussing this subject at present. I will merely remark, that 

 it is not improbable that all the phenomena of physiology are 

 the result of physical causes; and at some future period I 

 may perhaps discuss the subject of the similarity that appears 

 to exist between chemical and vital action. Notwithstanding, 

 however, that there may be a much nearer approximation 

 between minerals and organised substances than seems to be 

 commonly imagined, yet it must be admitted that each of 

 these two orders of bodies possesses characters so conspicuously 

 distinctive, that the one cannot easily be confounded with the 

 Vol. IV. — No. 21. c c 



