86 Traces of Unity in 



full complement of leaves and tendrils. The moss-like 

 appearance of the mocha-stone, the miniature trees of 

 hoar-frost, the branched forms in which native silver 

 and copper are often found, and the like appearances 

 which so frequently occur in artificial crystalline masses, 

 as in those of lead and silver, are other instances in 

 which the radiating and ramifying features of organic 

 life would seem to be shadowed forth in inorganic 

 nature. 



Nay it may be difficult to insist upon the angularity 

 and plane surfaces of crystals as denoting an absolute 

 distinction between the crystal and the cell, for, after 

 what has been said, who would venture to say that the 

 angle in the crystal has no relationship to the process in 

 the cell, or that the plane surfaces may not be due to 

 various extraneous circumstances, sometimes affecting 

 the crystal and the cell equally, of which pressure may 

 be one ? 



Crystals, moreover, would seem to correspond with 

 cells of a very low type a type lower even than that 

 which is met with in the bone-cell, much lower. The 

 inorganic world, indeed, may be said to be related to the 

 organic world in a way not dissimilar to that in which 

 the skeleton parts of plants and animals are related to 

 the soft parts of these creatures, or rather that it occupies 

 the still lower position *>f skeleton to these skeletons ; 

 and, therefore, it is to be expected that inorganic bodies 

 will present at the best but rudimentary traces of 

 organization, and but few indications of functional 

 activity. It is scarcely to be expected, indeed, that 

 these indications should be greater than those which are 

 revealed in crystallization. And crystallization, for 

 anything that appears to the contrary, may be a mani- 

 festation of growth a first movement life-wards. The 



