ORGANIC AND INORGANIC STRUCTURES. 3 



It may be well, here, to state more particularly what are 

 the differences between organic living forms and inorganic 

 matter. Some of them are essential, others only rules 

 with numerous exceptions. 



In regard to form, a great distinction is noticeable. 

 The shapes which inorganic matter naturally assumes are 

 modelled after a straighter and more severe pattern than 

 those with which life has had to do. The sharp angles and 

 straight lines of a crystal are not matched even by the hard 

 outline of those structures, as shells and corals, which, 

 though formed under the guidance of life alone, have 

 never been the seat of living actions ; and they resemble 

 much less the rounded outlines characteristic of living 

 or once-living structures. The difference can scarcely be 

 called essential, but it is too general to be trifling. 



The intimate arrangement, again, of an inorganic mass, 

 is totally different from that of an organized structure. 

 The term organization is intended, indeed, to express a 

 peculiarity which belongs to those structures only in which 

 life is or has been manifested. The particles of which a 

 lump of chalk is made up, have no mutual relation other 

 than that of simple apposition, and each particle, however 

 small, has like properties to those of the whole mass. In 

 organized matter, on the other hand, there is some kind of 

 mutual dependence of one part on another ; not necessarily 

 to the extent of its being composed of different parts 

 worthy the name of organs ; but still with such differences, 

 that one would be able to separate a small part that by 

 itself would be less complete than the whole. This spe- 

 ciality of structure, indicated by the word organization, is 

 not only peculiar as an evidence of present or past life, 

 but no life, so far as we know, is possible without it. 



Again, growth is not confined to the living, that is, if 

 we make the word mean simply increase of size ; but the 

 manner of growth of an inorganic mass, say a crystal, is 

 very different from the increase of living beings. In one 



