VITAL PRINCIPLE. .35 



is either increased or diminished beyond its ordinary size, 

 thereby destroying the proportion which should prevail be- 

 tween all the members ; or, when one organ ceases to exer- 

 cise its own appropriate functions, and performs those for 

 which other organs are constructed. Organized beings, in 

 which such modifications prevail, are termed Monsters. 

 That monsters should occur among organized beings, need 

 not surprise us, if we reflect upon the number of the ves- 

 sels in which the living process is performed ; the different 

 properties of the matters acted upon ; the endless varieties 

 of combination and decomposition, of absorption and secre- 

 tion, which take place. It may rather excite our astonish- 

 ment, that, among living beings, so few are to be found, 

 whose parts do not preserve their true proportions, or whose 

 organs exercise functions which are foreign to their nature. 

 Monsters may, with propriety, be divided into two kinds. 

 In the first, there is an excess or deficiency of a particular 

 part, by which the relative proportion of the different or- 

 gans is destroyed. The common garden-carrot may be 

 produced as an example. In the wild state, the root is 

 small, at the same time that it appears fitted to act both as 

 an organ of nourishment and support to the stem with 

 which it is connected. When cultivated, the root attains a 

 much larger size, and the original proportion between it 

 and the stem is greatly changed. The same holds true 

 with regard to the turnip, and nearly all the roots which 

 are cultivated for culinary purposes. The cabbage has be- 

 come monstrous by the excess of its leaves ; the tulip by 

 the size and the shape of its petals ; and our most highly 

 esteemed fruits, by the disproportionate magnitude of the 

 pericarp. In the Animal Kingdom such obvious instances 

 of monstrosity of this kind are of rarer occurrence. There 

 is usually a greater harmony among the parts; so that the 



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