^o THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 



There is something in it full of peculiar activity, alto- 

 gether different from the forces which belong to metals 

 and stones, or other inorganic bodies. We call it Life, 

 and the more we observe its powers the more we shall 

 be convinced that it is the Master, and not the slave, of 

 matter, and that the forming power is different from the 

 thing which is formed. It makes its own workshop and 

 its own tools, and compels the physical forces of inor- 

 ganic nature to assume new and different relations, so as 

 to serve its own purposes. It forms its own building- 

 stones, and elevates them to their places against gravity, 

 removes such as are in decay and replaces them with 

 others, and strengthens such parts as are most exposed 

 to wear or strain. 



The organism is also a laboratory. There Life, as a 

 subtle Alchemist, sits and transmutes the chemical ele- 

 ments around it into new and useful forms, in a way 

 which surpasses all our knowledge. Thus from the same 

 materials, and under the same conditions of light, heat, 

 and electricity, one cell will make starch, another fat, 

 another sugar, albumen, flesh, coloring-matter, acids, or 

 alkalies ; nay, even, in parts of the same cell different 

 materials may be produced. 



17. Every glance into the marvels of organic structure 

 reveals new wonders. As in the remote regions of 

 space we may trace myriads of suns, with nebulous films 

 and world-islands, which hide from us what is behind 

 them, so here every step reveals something new and 

 gives glimpses of something beyond. The details of 

 Histology would fill a large volume, and even an ordi- 

 nary life-time is insufficient to do more than to gather 



