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three from the world and ail vital })heiioineiia come to an end. 

 They are related to the protoplasm of the plant, as the protoplasm 

 of the plant is to that of the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 

 and nitrogen are all lifeless bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen 

 unite in certain proportions and under certain conditions, to give 

 rise to carbonic acid ; hydrogen and oxygen produce water ; 

 nitrogen and hydrogen give rise to ammonia. These new com- 

 pounds, like the elementary bodies of which they are composed, 

 are lifeless. But when they are brought together, under certain 

 conditions they give rise to the still more complex body, proto- 

 plasm, and this protoplasm exhibits the phenomena of life. I see 

 no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I 

 am unable to understand why tlie language which is applicable 

 to any one term of the series may not be used to any of the oth- 

 ers. AYe think lit to call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and nitrogen, and to speak of the various powers and 

 activities of these substances as the properties of the matter of 

 which they are composed. When hydrogen and oxygen are 

 mixed in a certain proportion, and the electric spark is passed 

 through them, they disappear, and a quantity of water, equal in 

 weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their place. There 

 is not the slightest parity between the passive and active poAvers 

 of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen v.hich haA'e 

 given rise to it. At 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and far below that 

 temperature, oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, 

 whose particles tend to rush away from one another with great 

 force. Water, at the same temperature, is a strong though brit- 

 tle solid, whose particles tend to cohere into dehnite geometrical 

 shapes, and sometimes build up frosty imitations of the most 

 complex forms of vegetable foliage. Xevcrtheless we call these, 

 and many other strange phenomena, the properties of the water, 

 and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some way or another, 

 they result from the properties of the component elements of the 

 water. We do not assume that a something called " aquosity" 

 entered into and took possession of the oxide of hydrogen as soon 

 as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous ])articles to theii* 

 ])lac('S ill tlu' facets of the crysta], or amongst the leallets of tlie 

 lioar-iVost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith 

 that, by the adv;vn|^ of molecular })hysics, we shall by-and-by be 

 able to see our v>ny as clearly from the constituents of Avater to 

 the properties of water, as we are now able to deduce the operations 



