INTRODUCTION. 7 
They decay or die at some definite period, the same in the 
same kind, and apparently not from the action of external 
forces (?), but from the simple exhaustion of their organs ; 
being then decomposed, that is, resolved into the condition 
of inorganic matter, and obeying the laws to which it is sub- 
ject. 8. Their integrant parts are (generally) so mutually 
dependant, that a small portion detached cannot maintain a 
separate existence. 9, They consist of solid and fluid parts, 
intermixed according to a regular order. 10. Their che- 
mical composition is very complex. 11. Their bulk is li- 
mited in each kind. 12. Their external surface is smooth 
and rounded, seldom formed into a regular plane or angle 
—never crystalline. 13. They cannot be formed by artifi- 
cial means. 
20. InanimaTe or Inoreanic Bopres, constituting what 
is commonly termed ‘* the Mineral Kingdom,” are very 
different. They are of a homogeneous texture, each being . 
alll solid, all fluid, or all aerial, and their particles being si- 
si milar throughout in form, arrangement, and chemical com- 
position, They grow* by the addition of matter already 
similar to their own, and only at their external surface (by 
justa-position.) They have no power of resisting external 
agencies. ‘They have no power of reproduction. They 
cannot restore any parts that may have been injured. They 
have no definite period of decay, being capable of existing 
unchanged for an unlimited period, when not subjected to 
any external destroying influence. Any part detached pos- _ 
sesses the properties which belong to the whole, and can _ 
maintain an independent existence. They are comparatively ea 
_ simple in chemical composition. They are unlimited in size. _ 
Their external surface is angular, and they tend to a erys- = 
| talline form. Many of them can be formed by artificial z 
is ‘The following table will present a more e string ee = 
5 cee tices ocieegi bie ieee tae ts hee 
Pak mei crtnmally, ee ee aS 
