310 On the Adhesion of the Particles 



son the subject must be regarded as very interesting. 

 It seems to me that it is to this adhesion, and to the 

 changes of its intensity, arising from different circum- 

 stances, that we must look for the proximate cause of 

 the growth of plants and of animals. 



I have already observed that the strong force of adhe- 

 sion existing among the particles of water renders this 

 liquid peculiarly fitted to serve as the vehicle for con- 

 veying nourishment to all living beings; and I think 

 that I can show that this force of adhesion can be very 

 much decreased, that this actually happens very often, 

 and that one of the necessary consequences of such a 

 diminution would be the deposition or precipitation of 

 foreign matters which this liquid holds in suspension 

 on account of its viscosity. 



If water ascends as sap in the capillary tubes of trees 

 as far as the leaves, it is possible that it there undergoes 

 some change, or that it there receives some addition, 

 which diminishes its viscosity, and disposes it in this way 

 to deposit matters which it holds in suspension and 

 which contribute to the growth of the plant. 



If, during the digestion of food which takes place in the 

 stomach, water, aided perhaps by the gastric juice, seizes 

 at first upon nutritive particles of every sort which are 

 there found and holds them in suspension, is it not 

 possible that this liquid thus loaded, being mixed subse- 

 quently with a portion of bile, at its entrance into the 

 intestinal canal, is by this means rendered less viscous 

 and consequently better fitted to pass easily through the 

 lacteal veins, and more disposed to yield up the nutri- 

 tive particles as it enters into circulation ? 



In case this conjecture be well founded, we ought, 

 undoubtedly, to find that a mixture of bile with water 



