INTRODUCTION 



TO THE 



OEGANIC KINGDOMS OF NATTJEE. 



THE foregoing descriptions refer to the great works of 

 Grod as seen in those creations which possess not that most 

 wonderful attribute life. There is no limit in extent, in 

 quality, or in number, to these works ; their extension 

 appears to be infinite ; their magnitudes are large or small, 

 just as we compare them one with the other. This earth is 

 an enormous mass, contemplated in comparison with our- 

 selves, but an insignificant speck when compared with the 

 sun, and there are certain laws, chemical and mechanical, 

 which govern them all heat, light, and electricity permeate 

 all the infinity of space attraction exists everywhere. 

 There are no individual existences among them ; all 

 are made up of matter combined according to certain 

 definite chemical laws, and always obedient to them under 

 the same conditions moving according to certain mechanical 

 laws, and always obedient to them. The Creator who made 

 these lifeless masses made also the laws to regulate them ; 

 but, besides these, it has pleased Him to form certain other 

 creatures not for an instant to be compared in size or 

 quantity with the former, and made up also of certain 

 chemical compounds obedient to the mechanical and 

 chemical laws, with one more addition, that unknown, 

 inexplicable attribute life. This wonderful quality exists 

 in all organic beings ; they obtain by it individual identity ; 

 they are whole creatures imperfect with any part taken 

 away, also imperfect with any addition. Clay is clay, in 

 any quality or form ; iron is iron, whether a grain or a ton ; 

 but a tree is only a tree when it is complete. We cannot 

 say " some tree," as we would " some clay," it must be a 

 tree, or several trees, each a separate and complete existence 



