BOOK IV. 



THE LIFE OF MATTER. 



Summary: Chap. I. Universal life — Opinions of philosophers 

 and poets — Continuity between brute and living bodies — 

 Origin of this principle. — Chap. II. Origin of brute matter 

 in living matter. — Chap. III. Organization and chemical 

 composition of brute and living bodies. — Chap. IV. Evolu- 

 tion and transformation of brute and living bodies. — 

 Chap. V. Possession of a specific form — Living bodies and 

 crystals — Cicatrization. — Chap. VI. Nutrition in the living 

 body and in the crystal. — Chap. VII. Generation in brute 

 and in living bodies — Spontaneous generation. 



Apparent Differences between Living and Brute 

 Bodies. The Two Kingdoms. — It seems at first 

 impossible that there should be any essential 

 similarity between an inanimate object and a living 

 being. What resemblance can be discovered between 

 a stone, a lion, and an oak ? A comparison of the 

 inert and immovable pebble with the leaping animal, 

 and with the plant extending its foliage gives an 

 impression of vivid contrast. Between the organic 

 and the inorganic worlds there seems to be an abyss. 

 The first impressions we receive confirm this view ; 

 superficial investigation furnishes arguments for it. 

 There is thus aroused in the mind of the child, and 

 later in that of the man, a sharply marked distinction 

 between the natural objects of the mineral kingdom 

 on the one hand, and those of the two kingdoms of 

 living beings on the other. 



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