192 ZOOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY 



2. An inorganic body may present a truly homogeneous mass or it 

 may constitute a heterogeneous mass ; the aggregation or combination 

 of similar or dissimilar parts can occur without these bodies ceasing to 

 be crude or inorganic. In this respect there is no essential necessity 

 for the masses of this body to be more homogeneous than hetero- 

 geneous or vice versa ; it is by chance that they are as we observe 

 them. 



All Hving bodies, on the contrary, even those with the simplest organi- 

 sations, are necessarily heterogeneous, that is to say, composed of dis- 

 similar parts : they have no integral molecules, but are formed from 

 molecules of a different character. 



3. An inorganic body may constitute either a perfectly dry, solid 

 mass or a completely liquid mass or a gaseous fluid. 



The contrary holds good in the case of all hving bodies ; for no 

 body can possess life unless it is formed from two kinds of necessarily 

 co-existing parts, the one solid, but supple and capable of holding 

 liquids ; the other liquid and contained in the first, but quite inde- 

 pendent of the invisible fluids which penetrate the body and develop 

 within it. 



The masses which constitute inorganic bodies have no special specific 

 shape ; for whether these masses have a regular shape, as in the case 

 of crystals, or whether they are irregular, their shape does not remain 

 permanently the same ; it is only the integral molecule which has in 

 each kind an invariable shape. ^ 



Living bodies, on the contrary, nearly all exhibit a shape pecuhar 

 to their species and one which cannot vary without giving rise to a 

 new race. 



4. The integral molecules of an inorganic body are entirely inde- 

 pendent of one another ; for even when they are combined into a 

 solid, liquid or gaseous mass, each of them continues to exist by itself 

 and to be constituted by the number, proportions, and character of 

 combination of its principles ; its existence is neither conditioned 

 nor increased by the similar or dissimilar molecules in its neighbour- 

 hood. 



The molecules of a living body, on the other hand, and consequently 

 all the parts of that body, are dependent for their character upon one 

 another ; because they are all subjected to the influence of a factor 



^ The integral molecules which constitute a compound substance all result from 

 combinations of the same number of principles in the same proportions, with exactly 

 the same character of combination : hence they all have the same shape, density 

 and special properties. 



But when any causes have produced a variation either in the number of the com- 

 ponent principles of these molecules, or in the proportions of the principles, or in 

 the character of their combination, these integral molecules then acquire another 

 shape, density and special properties : they then belong to another species. 



