PRIMARY DIVISION OF BODIES. 3 
manner of treating it alone, to include within its province not only 
the planet which we inhabit, but even the whole visible universe}. 
_ The certainty to which we can attain in this science is grounded 
upon the testimony of our own senses, on that of other observers, 
and upon conclusions, drawn from the combination of particular 
observations (Induction): of which conclusions the security is 
increased in proportion to the number of observed phenomena 
which tend to their establishment; for observation is the principal 
foundation upon which this science is raised. 
Organic and Inorganic Bodies. 
A primary division of the bodies of our earth is that according 
to which they are separated into organic (organica), and tnorganic 
(anorganica). Inorganic bodies can grow, or increase in bulk, only 
by external addition of homogeneous parts; they possess no hetero- 
geneous parts, though they may be composed of several chemical 
elements. In their perfect condition they ordinarily present regular 
forms, which are bounded by planes and straight lines. The 
knowledge of them is the object of Mineralogy. 
The remaining bodies are called organic, because they consist 
of different parts, of fibres, vessels, cells, &c., the combination of 
which is called organisation. In these bodies there prevails that 
mutual dependence between all the parts, of which, in the inorganic, 
Wwe recognise no trace. In these last, each of the parts exists for 
itself, and when separated from the whole does not cease to be the 
same that the whole was before. As to form, the boundaries which 
circumscribe plants and animals are very generally round surfaces 
and curved lines, very rarely straight lines and planes. 
Organic beings present phenomena which are called ‘ Vital 
Phenomena,’ of which the most general consist in an incessant 
susception of new matters, in the formation of new parts and 
organs (Growth, Development, Reproduction), and in the production 
of similar beings (Propagation). The separation of those constitu- 
ents of food that are unfit for nutriment, and of matters that have 
been changed through the action of life, and are no longer fitted for 
1 Cosmographia, Historia Mundi. 
