CHAPTER IV. 



ORGANIC NATURE DIVIDED INTO ANIMALS AND 

 VEGETABLES. 



IT has already been apparent that natural objects 

 comprise the inorganic and organic, and it is now 

 to be shown that the latter class is subdivided into 

 animals and vegetables. 



Animals have ordinarily been briefly character- 

 ized as living, sentient, and capable of motion; and 

 vegetables as merely endowed with life. But in 

 order to arrive at more clear and definite ideas, 

 let us examine particularly the difference that is 

 manifest. 



Vegetables are fixed in the earth, by the root, 

 while another part is raised into the air, and consists 

 of the stem, the branches, and the leaves. In the 

 disposition of these portions, we look in vain for 

 rigorously symmetrical arrangement ; there is, in- 

 deed, order, harmony, and a due adjustment of 

 parts : one vegetable is the type of its species, one 

 leaf the type of every leaf on the same plant, and 

 consequently of the leaves of every plant of the 

 same species; but this is all. The elm, for ex- 

 ample, has its peculiar leaf, bark, and adjustment of 

 branches, so that it cannot be mistaken for the oak ; 

 but one elm, though a type of the species, does not 

 present the same number of branches or leaves, nor 



