WITH RELATION TO VITALITY, 31 



ihe moisture which the atmosphere contains ; 

 a large portion of tire class of fuci has no root 

 whatever. It is also stated that the aerial 

 epidendron, the epidendron flos aeris, (denomi- 

 nated aerial from its' extraordinary properties,) 

 a native of Java in the East Indies, on account 

 of the elegance of its leaves, the beauty of its 

 flower, and the exquisite odor which it dif- 

 fuses, is plucked up by the inhabitants, and 

 suspended by a silken cord from the ceiling 

 of their apartments, from whence it continues 

 from year to year, to put forth new leaves, 

 to display new blossoms, and exhale new 

 fragrance, -^-al though fed out of the simple 

 bodies I have before stated.* 



This assimilating and convertible power over 

 different kinds of food in the digestive organs, 

 is equally proved by animals, whether herbivor- 

 ous, carnivorous, or omnivorous. Meat cut 

 out of the same joint, bread from the same loaf, 

 water drawn from the same fountain, and por- 

 tions of air separated from the same volume, 

 given to a man or a monkey, to a dog or a cat, 

 will lose every vestige of its former qualities, 

 and be converted to the particular nature of the 

 system- to which it had been applied. 



* See Mr. GOOD'S Oration before the London Physical 

 Society. 



