96 ZOOPHYTES. 



able to carry on the reproductive processes of growth, — the vital 

 forces and nutriment become directed within, and the new function 

 of germination is developed. The whole animal and vegetable king- 

 doms contain throughout illustrations of this principle. 



94. We have thus prepared the way for the following law, which 

 holds equally, whether the germ-cellule be that of an organ of an 

 animal or plant, or that from which a living being itself proceeds: — 

 The developeme7it of a germ, from a cellule or duster of cellules, requires 

 the concentration of a specific amount of vital force, and a certain tri- 

 hutarij space where this force exists ; proper nutrition being afforded, 

 reproduction necessarily takes place ; and, rvhen existing reproductive 

 centres cannot appropriate all the reproductive force and nutriment, new 

 reproductions commence.* 



* The existence of vital force as a cause has been of late doubted, and its supposed 

 effects attributed to mere chemical forces. This is not the place for a display of argu- 

 ment upon this subject : neither does the point seem to require it. The single fact, often 

 urged, that inorganic matter takes on angular forms, and organic roimded, seems to decide 

 the question. The perfect individual in the former, has plain faces of fi.xed angular 

 dimensions, and proceeds from attractions in straight lines, having fi.xed mathematical 

 relations. Solidification is in fact only the union of particles by these axes, which are 

 assumed generally at the time the change of condition commences. Crystallization and 

 solidification are, therefore, one and the same process ; for the particles of a solid are 

 always possessed of this crystalline attraction, although they may constitute together an 

 amorphous mass. Even those so-called organic substances, which the chemist claims to 

 have made, still show the same powers of crystallization on becoming solid. 



But in the tissues of plants and animals, there are no planes or solid angles, except 

 such as may result from pressure. Where, indeed, is there the slightest analogy to a 

 crystal in an oblong cellule filled with fluids ? And in the budding of cellules from one 

 another, and the formation of linear series, what resemblance to a solid filament of 

 crystals? Crystals or crystalline masses are secreted by organic life; but these proceed 

 from, and never take the place of, living cellules. There must, therefore, be some con- 

 trolling influence, which prevents the particles from uniting into crystal shapes, and 

 moulds them into growing cellules, — some power which makes the curving outline as 

 characteristic of the organic kingdom, as straight lines and fixed angles of the crystal 

 kingdom. This power or influence is called vitality. By it, the constituent molecules 

 of a germ are themselves controlled, and are enabled also to bring other molecules into 

 the same living state. 



The functions of a germ, however, are not simply its vitality; chemical attractions are 

 a principal source of the various compositions and decompositions in progress ; and all 

 those causes that influence chemical combinations, such as light, heat, and electricity, 

 and the various laws under which such combinations take place, are here in action. 

 Chemical inertia plays an important part in continuing processes which have been begun. 

 It is possible that some compounds are formed, which chemistry, without vitality, would 



