LIFE AND DEVELOPMENT. 



35 



that will in any way account for the different results as 

 regards development and formation. The different powers 

 or properties of the particles cannot be due to difference of 

 chemical composition. All living particles consist of com- 

 paratively few elements, and no differences in the pro- 

 portions of these would enable us to explain the different 

 results of the act of living. 



This wonderful stuff, which is the first state of everything 

 that has life, splits up when it is destroyed into a few 

 chemical compounds, from the study of which, however, 

 chemists have hitherto failed to arrive at any conclusion as 

 regards the atomic relations of the component elements of 

 the matter during life. Neither, as far as has been ascer- 

 tained, is there any constant relation between the volume, 

 or kind, or aggregation of the matter which is the seat of 

 the manifestation of the vital power, and the form of living- 

 being that is to be evolved from it. Man's matter is no 

 more elaborate, no more complex, no more beautiful, than 

 dog's matter or sheep's matter ; but it is in the power , not 

 in the matter, that we must look for the cause of the 

 remarkable difference of the results. Insignificantly in 

 matter, but transcendently in power, does the man-germ 

 differ from the dog-germ. Wonderfully different powers 

 may be transmitted by particles of matter that resemble 

 one another in every particular that can be ascertained. 



So far from differences in material properties being 

 discovered that will account for the differences in the con- 

 stitution of living matter, it seems probable that means 

 may be discovered, through researches on the living par- 

 ticle, for ascertaining the real nature of matter and force. 

 In the temporary living state of matter we have to deal with 



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