38 PROPRTI$S OF MATTER 



If the block were already chiselled into a statue, 

 the prior existence of that statue would render 

 the marble, while in that figured condition, un- 

 fit for the art of the statuary ; tut, being a 

 plane surface alone, it becomes a fit recipient 

 for the figures, which the artist intends to en- 

 grave. That this is the relation which actually 

 subsists, of power and of weakness, between 

 the receiver and the thing received between 

 the organs and the food is proved by examin- 

 ing the converse of the proposition. If the 

 food, which every living system receives for its 

 nourishment and support, acted by virtue of its 

 chemical, or its sensible qualities ; whether of 

 aggregation or configuration whether of color 

 or of flavor ; these qualities would constantly 

 resist the power of the organs, a.nd would 

 oppose the change, which the matter, by them, 

 was designed to undergo. Instead of vegetable 

 and animal matter being converted into chyle, 

 fermentation and putrefaction would invariably 

 take place ; if solid substances had been taken 

 in, for food, those substances would obey the 

 order of their affinities in the system itself, as 

 they are prone to do, out of it; a chemica.1 

 union between the parts would take place and 

 compound salts be formed. Finally, if they 

 retained any active or corrosive power, they 

 would enter into a union with the organ itself, 

 a caustic eflfect would be produced, and a con- 



