INTRODUCTION. 17 



its powers of attraction or growth, 

 thereby rendering it capable of appro- 

 priating to itself all the materials neces- 

 sary to its further development. 



We have shown, in the following 

 pages, that the waters on the earth's 

 surface possessed all the requisites for 

 the development and growth of organ- 

 ized matter ; and have supposed, that, 

 under their high and uniform tempera- 

 ture, as they contained all the materials 

 of organized bodies, a union of the 

 vital principle with an organization fit- 

 ted for its reception, might have taken 

 place. If it be admitted, that such 

 union might be formed in the lowest 

 orders of vegetable or animal organiza- 

 tion, it is believed that all the requisites 

 existed, in the waters and the atmo- 

 sphere, during the very gradual reduc- 

 2* 



