MINERAL KINGDOM. 



inorganic matter, mere earths, salts or airs, 

 substances certainly incapable of serving as 

 food for any animals, the latter only feeding 

 on what is or has been organized matter, 

 either of a vegetable or animal nature. So 

 that it should seem to be the office of vege- 

 table life alone to transform dead matter 

 into organized living bodies/' This idea ap- 

 pears to me so just, that I have in vain sought 

 for any exception to it. 



Let us however descend from these philo- 

 sophical speculations to purposes of practical 

 utility. It is sufficient for the young student 

 of Natural History to know, that in every 

 case in which he can be in doubt whether 

 he has found a plant or one of the lower orders 

 of animals, the simple experiment of burning 

 will decide the question. The smell of a 

 burnt bone, coralline, or other animal sub- 

 stance, is so peculiar that it can never be mis- 

 taken, nor does any known vegetable give 

 out the same odour. 



The Mineral Kingdom can never be con- 

 founded with the other two. Fossils are 

 masses of mere dead unorganized matter, 

 subject to the laws of chemistry alone ; grow- 



