2 INANIMATE AND ANIMATED NATURE. 



inent, or if they are composite, they are simple compounds of two or 

 three elements. We find, too, that mineral bodies are either of mdefinite 

 shape or crystalline, and that they are composed of similar particles 

 which do not stand in any definite relation to each other. In technical 

 language they are amorphous and homogeneous bodies. 



Every substance which has yet been examined is found to consist 

 of one or more elements. These elements, sixty-three in number, are 

 divided into forty-nine metals and fourteen non-metals ; in the latter 

 class are placed those substances which at ordinary temperatures are 

 gaseous in form, such as oxygen, hydrogen and. the like, as well as some 

 solid bodies, such as sulphur, phosphorus and carbon. All the known 

 elements occur variously dispersed in the soHd mass of the earth, only 

 four in the air, but thirty in the sea. Among the compounds of these 

 elements there is a very peculiar class which form a characteristic and 

 essential portion of the bodies of animals. These compounds are of very 

 complicated constitution ; they do not crystallize, but exist in a jelly-like 

 form. They all contain sulphur, and most of them phosphorus, in addition 

 to carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. To a substance closel^' allied 

 to these albuminous compounds, the name of " protoplasm " has been 

 given, and apparently no other form of matter can manifest what we call 

 vital phenomena. 



Leaving Inanimate Nature to be discussed and described in trea. 

 tises of Geology, Mineralogy, Chemistry or Physics, let us cast a further 

 look on the division to which we have attributed LiFE. 



We observe that these bodies pass through sundry periodic changes, 

 that they grow and decay, and that although subject to the universal 

 physical and chemical laws, they possess a something which enables them 

 to resist or check these laws. We see they increase, not by the mere 

 external addition of particles from outside, but by the assimilation of 

 foreign substances which they take into their mterior ; and if we continue 

 our observation of them for a sufficient length of time, we discover that 

 they can produce germs which, circumstances favoring, will develop into 

 the likeness of their parent. In other words, we see that they possess 

 organs of nutrition and reproduction. If we examine further these 

 bodies which possess life, we find that the chemical elements of which 

 they are composed form complex organic compounds which differ funda- 

 mentally from any inorganic compound by exhibiting an organized 

 structure. Such an organized structure is seen in the simple cell, the 



