AFFINITIES OF LIFE. 516 



bility), and acquire the power of entering with 

 great rapidity into new combinations, as in the 

 regions of subterranean chemical action > where 

 the rocks that form the solid mountains of the 

 globe are aggregated, and among the ruins of 

 which have been discovered nearly all the pre- 

 cious metals and gems, including the rich and 

 sparkling diamond. The metallic elements, 

 united with various proportions of oxygen, hy- 

 drogen, nitrogen, carbon, &c., constitute the 

 massy frame-work of the earth ; but they are 

 wholly incapable of forming organic compounds, 

 and of executing the more elevated functions of 

 living matter. It is therefore obvious that there 

 is a broad line of demarcation between the 

 chemical constitution of mineral and organized 

 bodies. 



Another fundamental difference between them 

 is, that, with the exception of oxygen, hydrogen, 

 carbon , and nitrogen, all the other elements of 

 ponderable matter are capable of entering into 

 simple binary combinations only ; whereas the 

 ultimate principles of organic bodies possess the 

 additional power of forming ternary and qua- 

 ternary compositions. Thus oxygen with hy- 

 drogen produces water ; with sulphur, phos- 

 phorus, nitrogen, carbon, &c., it forms acids 

 which are single binary compounds.* With 



* Oxygen enters into the composition of nearly all bodies. 

 It constitutes -fth of the atmosphere, |-ths of all the waters, and 



