EVOLUTION- OF LIFE* 49 



found perfectly developed, and to have attained 

 their symmetry and form. 



The existence of vitality without organi- 

 sation, would more evidently appear, if we 

 were to examine the state of the living princi- 

 ple in the seeds of plants and ova of animals. 

 There are not, in them, any traces whatever to 

 be found of the future animal, or vegetable ; 

 there is no foetus in miniature, either of the one 

 or of the other ; and in animals, (more espe- 

 cially in those belonging to the higher classes,) 

 gestation has continued, for a considerable pe- 

 riod, before any bond of continuity between the 

 different parts can possibly be detected ; nei- 

 ther is the evolution equal in its progress 

 throughout the whole ; there are many parts 

 whose evolution has scarcely commenced, while 

 the development of others has been completed. 

 If foetal evolution depended on organic action 

 in general, a necessity would exist for the pre- 

 sence of the various substances on which the 

 different organs are destined to act ; the admis- 

 sion of air would be necessary to call forth the 

 action of the lungs ; the introduction of food 

 into the mouth, would be necessary to call 

 forth the digestive powers of the stomach. 



If the foetus were so situated, its subsistence 

 would in a great measure depend upon choice, 

 not necessity ; upon choice without the power 

 of choosing, upon organic action before organi- 



