PART 1. 



THE MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 



ORGANIC MECHANISM. 



§. 1. Organization in General. 



Life, which consists of a continued series of actions, di- 

 rected to particular purposes, cannot be carried on but by 

 the instrumentality of those peculiar and elaborate structures 

 and combinations of material particles which constitute or- 

 ganization. All these arrangements, both as respects the 

 mechanical configuration and the chemical constitution of 

 the elements of which the organized body is composed, 

 even when apparently most simple, are, in reality, complex 

 and artificial in the highest possible degree. Let us take as 

 a specimen the crystalline lens, or hard central part, of the 

 eye of a codfish, which is a perfectly transparent, and to all 

 appearance homogeneous, spherule. No one, unaccustomed 

 to explore the wonders of nature, would suspect that so 

 simple a body, which he might suppose to be formed of a 

 uniform material cast in a mould, would disclose, when ex- 

 amined under a powerful microscope, and with the skill of 

 a Brewster, the most refined and exquisite conformation. 

 Yet, as I shall- have occasion to specify more in detail in its 



