WHAT IS LIFE! 389 



more changeful than those of inanimate nature. Next, that 

 the difference between their metamorphoses is very wide. The 

 eye can follow the transformations of a rock exposed to the 

 decomposing action of the agents which surround us on every 

 side. This action is calculable, and the elements which it 

 has dissociated may be determined and weighed. The effects 

 of the force, called either affinity or attraction, which main- 

 tains these elements united, are not beyond the range of our 

 observation; tables of affinity, and of atomic weights, have 

 been constructed, which enable the chemist to dominate over 

 matter, just as the astronomer embraces the stars, the atoms 

 of the world, by the law of universal gravitation. 



But no sooner is matter interpenetrated by that mysterious 

 force which we call life, than our most potent means of inves- 

 tigation suddenly cease to be efficient. Undoubtedly, you 

 may analyse the seed before you sow it, and thus may ascer- 

 tain that it consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. But 

 with the same elements attempt to recompose your seed, using 

 exactly the same proportions as those you discovered in it ; 

 and if you think that your synthesis has been successful, ensure 

 that your grain, once confided to the earth, shall become a 

 focus of divers movements, giving birth below to the ramifica- 

 cations of the root, terminated by the spongioles, above, to 

 the ramifications of the stem, garnished with leaves, flowers, 

 and fruits ; finally, ensure that this aggregate of organs, multi- 

 plying millions of times the weight and volume of the seed, 

 shall always and exactly reproduce the same type or the same 

 species. 



