their own satisfaction pene Jaborate discoveries with tl 
‘that * ‘elem 
ma oi ea = = tg eet as a sonar! is built of 
bricks,” geries of countless millions of organized 
units, “ ane ca pablo of living in a separate state, and ie erha 
ture ; by another areangerhellt spring up in the glowing 
colours and ‘varieties of vegetable life, and that when death 
passes upon them, and decomposition separates the parts, 
elements which were before parts of some animal, become 
vegetables, or if it so may chance, vegetable atoms ‘awake to 
life as animals. 
ae inferences rest on the following experiments. 
Dr. Edwards examined a piece of animal substance mace- 
rated in water, and immediately perceived a number of white 
vesicles moving about with great rapidity. ‘These he con- 
sidered to be animalcules of the tribe monades. He observ- 
ed that these monads lost all power of motion when the wa- 
ter evaporated, “If water were added immediately after the 
cessation of motion, they again began to move, but if allow- 
ed to remain dry for a short time, they never reco 
faculty of locomotion.”’ . He also observed, that “ whenever 
they adhered to the sides of the glass, they exhibited every 
appearance of vegetable life.” 
T experimenter i eee a leaf of the horse- 
chesnut, and “as soon as the particles became detached 
from me margin of the leaf, they were seen to put themselves 
in motion ;”” thus showing that when the tissue of plants is 
decomposed in water, its —. pene parts possess 
independent life, and spon moti 
Another example, though not Feseladed ; in those mentioned 
by Dr. Edwards, is stil] more surprising, as it would st 
that the degree of heat which destroys life in visible 
had the effect, while life was in its invisible state, to aa it in 
its development. ‘A potatoe was boiled in water until it 
re, 
: Westminster Review, No. 13, Jan. 1827. 
