CHAPTER III. 



ORGANIZATION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF 

 LIVING AND BRUTE MATTER. 



Laws of the organization and of the chemical composition of 

 living beings Relative value of these lavs; vital pheno- 

 mena in crashed protoplasm Vital phenomena in brute 

 bodies, 



Enumeration of ike Principal Characters of Living 

 Beings. The programme which we have just sketched 

 compels us to look in the brute being for the pro- 

 perties of living beings. What, then, are, in fact, the 

 characteristics of an authentic, complete, living being ? 

 What are its fundamental properties? We have 

 enumerated them above as follows : A certain 

 chemical composition, which is that of living matter : 

 a structure or organization ; a specific form ; an 

 evolution which has a duration, that of life, and an 

 end, death ; a property * of growth or nutrition ; a 

 property of reproduction. Which of these characters 

 counts for most in the definition of life ? Are they 

 all equally necessary ? If some of them were wanting, 

 would that justify the transference of a being, who 

 might possess the rest, from the animate world to 

 that of minerals ? This is precisely the question that 

 is under consideration. 



Organization and Chemical Composition of Living 

 Beings. All that we know concerning the constitution 

 255 



