28 THE LIVING WORLD. 



perfect, and it may have all the possibilities of fur- 

 ther action except a directing power, but without 

 this it is forever quiet. And so an organism is, so 

 far as we can see, frequently intact after death, with 

 all of its mechanism present ; there is just as much 

 stored energy in a pound of fat in the dead body as 

 in the living body, L id it is just as capable of being 

 oxidized. So far as we can see, therefore, every 

 physical condition may be present in the dead body 

 which is necessary to produce the process known as 

 life, if the process could once be started. But with- 

 out this spark of life to start and direct the chemical 

 changes no life can show itself. And in like manner 

 do we find all other comparisons ever made between 

 organic and inorganic matter failing at this point. 

 Living things have been compared with crystals, for 

 both grow, although the process of growth is very 

 different in the two cases. But a crystal cannot die. 

 Take it out of the solution upon which its growth 

 depends and it will cease to grow, forever remaining 

 stationary. Put it back in the solution, and once 

 more it will resume its growth. A steel bar may be 

 magnetized, and under these conditions will exhibit 

 properties which it did not possess before. But it 

 may be demagnetized by a blow, and thus lose all of 

 these properties. This seems indeed to bear much 

 resemblance to death until we remember that a steel 

 bar may be magnetized and demagnetized indefinitely, 

 and never once fail to exhibit its properties. But an 

 organism, when it has once lost its vitality, can never 

 be brought to assume a vital condition. It is perfectly 

 plain that at this point all of the comparisons of 



