340 Mr Carpenter on the Differences of the Laws 



The chief ground for the assumption of a distinct set of vital 

 affinities, appears to be, that whilst man has the power of effect- 

 ing or controlling those changes which are produced by phy- 

 sical laws (so far as the materials concerned in them are within 

 his reach), and can therefore imitate, to a great extent, the im- 

 mense -variety of combinations which the mineral kingdom af- 

 fords,* he is at present unable to effect or control the action of 

 similar materials, so as to produce any of the class of substances 

 usually termed organic. Every fresh discovery, however, tends 

 to prove that the powers immediately concerned, are, like the 

 elements on which they act, the same in all cases ; the difference 

 in the effects produced being owing, not to any alteration in 

 the physical properties of the constituents, but solely to the 

 manner in which they are brought to bear upon one another. 

 We cannot vet succeed in producing artificially any organic 

 compound, even of the simplest kind, by directly combining its 

 elements, because we cannot bring them together precisely in 

 the requisite states and proportions ; we do not see why it 

 should be doubted ; that if the elements could be so brought 

 together by the hand of man, the result would be the same as 

 the natural compound. For, as Dr Prout justly remarks, " the 

 organic agent does not change the proper-ties of the elements, 

 but simply combines them in modes which we cannot imitate." 

 If we once admit the doctrine of the substitution of vital for 

 chemical affinity as the immediate agent in the production of 

 organic compounds ; we do not see how the conclusion can be 

 avoided, that all the changes which take place in the living sys- 

 tem, whether animal or vegetable, are to be referred to the 

 same source, and that, in fact, chemical affinity has nothing to 

 do with them — a conclusion to which we imagine that few 

 Avould assent. Those who are acquainted with the influence of 

 temperature, electricity, light, the Jbrm of the body operated 

 on, and the state in which it is presented for combination — on 

 chemical actions, must be well aware how greatly the effects 



" In this point of view the recent experiments of Mr Crosse and others oa 

 artificial minerals, are highly interesting ; no chemical laws previously known 

 were adequate to account for the formation of many common mineral com- 

 btnations. 



