ORGANIC AND INORGANIC MATTER COMPARED. G7 



the fulfilment of its purpose. Hence we may 

 predict with certainty, that from the acorn will 

 the sapling of the oak spring up, or the syca- 

 more from its two-winged seed. So, also, from 

 the egg of the eagle will the eagle be produced, 

 and from that of the dove, a dove. From the 

 egg of the butterfly the caterpillar will emerge ; 

 this caterpillar will become a dormant pupa ; 

 and from the pupa case, soon to be riven 

 asunder, shall emerge the sportive butterfly, 

 painted according to its species, and which 

 species alone it can reproduce. All plants 

 have their own peculiar forms, and these forms 

 are as characteristic as are those of animals. 

 They are specifically characteristic. The oak, 

 the birch, the willow, and the pine, present us 

 with features, irrespective of leaves, which dis- 

 tinguish between them. Yet no two trees of 

 either species shall be similar to each other in 

 the number of their larger branches, the precise 

 outline of the trunk, or the point at which 

 ramification commences. "With respect to the 

 smaller branches and twigs, still further dif- 

 ferences will prevail ; and yet throughout the 

 whole, from the root and stem to the minutest 

 ramification, specific distinctiveness will mani- 

 fest itself. Specific form, then, in organic 

 beings, is the result of a vital principle, not of 

 chemical laws ; but at the same time within 

 that form many chemical phenomena are in 

 unceasing operation, subordinate to a higher 

 power. Herein there is mystery ; for how can 

 we explain the working of organic and inorganic 



