OEGANA AND ANOEGAXA. 5 



foundation ; and this is the reason why now it is commonly 

 and exclusively (though not quite correctly) designated as 

 Darwin's Theory, 



The great and really inestimable value of the Theory of 

 Descent appears in a different light, accordingly as we 

 merely consider its more immediate connection with organic 

 natural science, or its larger influence upon the whole range 

 of man's knowledge of the universe. Organic natural 

 science, or Biology, which as Zoology treats of animals, as 

 Botany of plants, is completely reformed and founded anew 

 by the Theory of Descent. For by this theory we are made 

 acquainted with the active causes of organic forms, while up 

 to the present time Zoology and Botany have simply been 

 occupied with the facts of these forms. We may therefore 

 also term the theory of descent a onechanical explanation of 

 organic forms, or the science of the true causes of Organic 

 Nature. 



As I cannot take for granted that my readers are all 



familiar with the terms " organic and inorganic nature," 



and as the contrast of both these natural bodies will, in 



future, occupy much of our attention, I must say a few 



words in explanation of them. We designate as Organisms, 



or Organic bodies, all living creatures or animated bodies; 



therefore all plants and animals, man included ; for in them 



we can almost always prove a combination of various parts 



(instruments or organs) which work together for the purpose 



of producing the phenomena of life. Such a combination 



we do not find in Anorgana, or inorganic natural bodies — 



the so-called dead or inanimate bodies, such as minerals or 



stones, water, the atmospheric air, etc. Organisms always 



contain albuminous combinations of carbon in a semi-fluid 

 2 



