27 



posed ; and they are certainly quite distinct from 

 any thing to be found in such as are inorganic. 



But if the structure and physical characters of 

 inorganic and organic substances are thus dis- 

 similar, a still greater difference is observable in 

 the actions of each, and in their relations to the 

 external world. Thus the motions of inorganic 

 substances, and of their integrant particles, are 

 subject to certain chemical and mechanical laws 

 alone, which, as uniform in their operation, may 

 be easily determined by experiment ; whereas, 

 the motions of such as are organic, and of their 

 integrant particles the reciprocal conversion of 

 the one into the other the interchange of their 

 particles with those of other substances, &c are 

 regulated by laws quite distinct from such as are 

 simply chemical and mechanical, laws appa- 

 rently much less uniform in their operation, and 

 certainly much less easily ascertained, and less 

 confidently to be calculated upon. It is in the 

 sum of these and other similar motions, that 

 life consists ; which is, accordingly, the distinc- 

 tive attribute of organic matter, vegetable as well 

 as animal. The peculiar phenomena of life, or 

 those motions which take place in organic mat- 

 ters, and to which such as are inorganic present 

 nothing similar, are principally those by which 

 they effect, for a time, incessant changes in their 

 own composition, exerting, at the same time, a 

 reciprocal action with the substances of the ex- 

 ternal world ; those by which they resist, for a 

 time, the deleterious action of external agents ; 



