XX11 INTRODUCTION. 



the results of the experiments of animal chemistry. It 

 has yet to find out the laws of the phenomena which 

 give to these elementary atoms the condition of blood, 

 and afterwards change this blood into muscles, nerves, 

 and other things. 



The whole body is formed of solid sand of fluids. The 

 former, when unravelled, consist of fibres, of laminae, 

 and of molecules; their mechanical division does not ad- 

 mit of any greater separation. Many of the laminae are 

 arranged into membranes, thus forming hollow viscera, 

 for containing either articles of food or the excretions; 

 others surround the different solid viscera and separate 

 them from the contiguous parts. Other laminae pene- 

 trate through the most compact structure, and indeed 

 form the nidus in which its atoms or particles are de- 

 posited. Many of these laminae consist of several thin- 

 ner laminae, placed together and united by filaments ar- 

 ranged into cells, which cells receive the ultimate par- 

 ticles of the whole fabric, and constitute its base. The 

 lamhue also, by being wrought into cylinders, constitute 

 vessels of different kinds, which are distributed in such 

 numbers through the body, that by far the greater part 

 of its structure seems to be formed of them. In regard 

 to the fluids, they are extremely abundant in number 

 and in quantity, and are found in the cells of the lami- 

 nated tissue, and in the several vessels. One not accus- 

 tomed to the process^ would be astonished to see, when 

 these fluids evaporate by exposure to the air, that near- 

 ly all parts of the body, except the skeleton, lose from 

 one-half to two-thirds of their original bulk, and some 

 parts even more. The several solid parts of the body 

 are then literally kept soaked during life in the fluids ; 

 which have for a principal constituent, simply water. 



There are some animals whose organization is so sim- 

 ple that they possess only the power of sensation; and 

 of motion in one part upon another. This is perhaps 



