1 88 1. 45 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 



we all know that men who live in communities often think and feel as 

 one though many. A great grief crushes all alike, a great danger rallies 

 all in defence. The social insects, ants and bees, retain their corporeal 

 individuality, but are curiously linked together in a common life that 

 makes each but a part of a whole. A tree is universally accepted as an 

 individual, but, as all know, it may be divided to form an unlimited 

 number of perfect trees which expand this individual into a forest and 

 prolong its life indefinitely. The sponge is said to be a community of 

 amoeboid individuals, but these share a common skeleton, fashioned 

 for the wants of all, and all unite in the general function by which the 

 inhalent and exhalent currents are maintained, a function on which the 

 life of all depends. In the corals which live in communities, we find 

 the common skeleton covered with a vitalized gelatinous integument 

 on which are set here and there the individual polyps. These live to 

 a great degree each for itself; each throws out its tentacles and forages 

 for its own support, but at the same time it shares a life with its 

 neighbors ; an injury done to one affects those about it, and a misfor- 

 tune involving a sufficient number destroys the life of the colony. 



The elusive and intangible nature of the life which pervades plant 

 tissue is well shown in the growth and decay of a tree. From a 

 microscopic germ a young Sequoia springs into existence, and for a 

 thousand years or more lives its life. All this time it is inspired by a 

 power which acts in antagonism to the affinities of inorganic chemistry 

 in opposition to the force of gravitation, and which builds up a mass 

 hundreds of tons in weight, mostly obtained by the breaking up of one 

 of the strongest bonds in chemistry, that of carbonic acid, appropriat- 

 ing the carbon and setting the oxygen free. Every part of the huge 

 structure is pervaded by this peculiar creative and conservative in- 

 fluence ; and every cell of root or stem or leaf contributes its part to 

 the harmonious whole. At length the time arrives when this peculiar 

 influence which we call life deserts the structure it has created. The 

 affinities of inorganic chemistry now assert themselves, all the epheme- 

 ral fabric is rapidly disorganized, and soon a heap of ashes — the inor- 

 ganic matter woven into its composition — alone remains to tell of its 

 existence. Who can tell us what was the nature of the enchantment 

 which created this Aladdin's palace — whence it came, where it dwelt 

 during its sojourn, and whither it has gone } We may say it resided in 

 the terminal root cells ; but these are inseparably connected with the 

 leaves, hundreds of feet above. The tie that binds them is a vital 

 one; neither could live without the other, nor without the intervening 

 chain which connects them. 



By studying the anatomy of plants and animals, we obtain a know- 

 ledge of the organs and laws, as we call them, of animal and plant life ; 



