HOW PLANTS BEGAN TO BE. 19 



hydrogen, closely locked up with one atom of 

 oxygen. If iaJTes aEraTn75unT of sunlight, which 

 we will call B, to unlock this union and separate 

 the atoms. The oxygen once more goes^ofF'freir ' 

 into the air, and the hydrogen joins in a loose ^ 

 union with the carbon already spoken of. Islow, 

 burn the material resulting from these two acts, 

 and what happens? Two atoms of oxygen 

 once more unite with the one atom of carbon, to 

 form a particle of carbonic acid ; one atom of 

 oxygen once more unites with the two atoms of 

 hydrogen o form a particle of water, and there 

 is given out injhe^act of union an amount of 

 light and heat exacfly^ n equal 'to_ the A and B 

 originally locked^ up7 m tne act f separating 

 them. 



I have now made it clear, I hope, what plant 

 life really is in its final essence. In nature at 

 large, the elements which chiefly compose it 

 namely, carbon and hydrogen exist only in very 

 close union with oxygen ; the plant is a machineA 

 for separating these elements Irom oxygen under f 

 the influence of sunlight, and building them up 

 into fresh forms, whose great peculiarity is that | 

 they possess energy or dormant motion. } 



Now the animal is the exact opposite of all 

 this. He is essentially a destroyer, as the plant 

 is a builder. The plant produces ; the animal 1 

 consumes ; the plant makes living matter, the A 

 animal breaks it down again. He is, in fact, / 

 a slowjire, where plant products like grasses, 

 fruits, nuts, or grains, are consumed by degrees 

 and reduced once more to their original condition. 



The animal eats what the plant laid by. He 



