58 LIFE AND ORGANISATION. 



powers of physical analysis. The definite proportions which 

 exist in every union of the simpler chemical elements, are 

 found also in the most complex compounds which form the 

 material of living bodies. The poisonous ingredients of animals 

 and plants, equally with their nutritive portions, yield inva- 

 riable results to organic analysis. Various specific secretions 

 familiar to us in the human economy, exist, under the same 

 chemical composition, in the lower animals, even as far down 

 as insect life. A minute quantity of phosphorus is detected 

 in the nervous substance of the brain, bearing a certain pro- 

 portion to the other ingredients, and showing thereby its deter- 

 minate relation to this wonderful part of the living economy. 

 Endless similar instances might be given, to prove the extent 

 and uniformity of the chemical actions which pervade every 

 living texture; equally definite in all which concerns its 

 growth and maturity, as in the changes which precede and 

 produce its final decay. 



But modern Chemistry goes yet further in its aims and 

 success. Numerous substances, both animal and vegetable 

 in kind, known to us before only as the products of living 

 actions, have been actually produced in the laboratory; 

 identical in every chemical character, but subject, we must 

 add, to this notable distinction ; that whereas in nature the 

 series of living organisms is begun from the combination of a 

 few simple elements, no present artifice of chemistry can 

 fully imitate this higher workmanship, otherwise than by 

 acting on compounds already formed. In theory, however, 

 it does not seem improbable that this ultimate step may yet 

 be made. Whatever experimental skill, aided by boldness of 

 aim, can accomplish, will be done by those who now work in 

 the physiological department of chemistry. The schools of 

 Liebig, Dumas, Hofmann, Bernard, &c., are creating pupil s 

 and fostering a zeal in the pursuit, to which we may well look 

 for results hitherto unimagined or unattained. 



