1859.] REVIEWS. 119 



Animate objects generally are endowed with figures or shapes 

 that all more or less approach the circular^ the cylindrical^ the 

 spherical form, or some modification of rounded bodies. In in- 

 animate or inorganized objects the bounding lines are usually 

 straight, and the ends angular. They assume the prismatic, the 

 cubicular, the rectangular, or some modification of regular ma- 

 thematical figures. Rounded organs characterize animate beings, 

 angular inanimate. Extension and duration afibrd as certain 

 marks of distinction between the two kingdoms of animate and 

 inanimate beings, as their physiology or even anatomy can sup- 

 ply. We observe the beginning and the end of animate beings. 

 There is a time before they existed, and there will be time when 

 they exist no longer in their organized condition. This cannot 

 be predicated of rocks, or of mountains, minerals, etc. " Where 

 wast thou," Job Avas asked, " when I laid the foundations of the 

 earth ?'^ If the question were now. When did the Orange-tree 

 which is on the table before me begin its life ? it may be replied, 

 Seven years ago I planted an orange-pip, and now it is about a 

 yard high ; and it probably will exist,* if preserved from accidents, 

 for many generations. But, as Dean Swift said, — and anybody 

 might say the same, — " Nothing lasts for ever ;" Orange-trees, 

 sturdy Oaks, and long-lived Yews will end their lives some dis- 

 tant day. There are however myriads of things, both animal 

 and vegetable, -that do not live during the space of a year; some 

 have a duration of a few months, and some terminate their ex- 

 istence after enjoying a brief life of a space of only some hours. 

 This certainly is not the case with the inanimate creation, which 

 appears to us to be indestructible. Its condition, like that of 

 plants and animals, may be changed, but its constituents still 

 exist. Extension also characterizes both kingdoms. Animate 

 beings are of limited extent, as well as limited duration ; but 

 what limits can we assign to the air, the water, the earth, the 

 rocks, or even the diamonds and precious stones ? 



The distinction between plants and animals is rather con- 

 founded, than established on purely physiological principles ; but 

 is there anybody that does not know a toad from a toad-stool ? 

 Irritability and locomotion, on which so much stress is laid, are 

 not general laws of vegetation : they are exceptions. Zoophytes, 

 diatoms, etc., are liable to be confounded, because some of them 

 are so minute as almost to baffle the microscopist. These are 



