Mexico that yields water, wine, vinegar, milk, honey, 

 wax, thread and needles. 



Among the problems before the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences those of physiology and biology took a promi- 

 nent place. The distillation of compounds had long 

 been practiced, and the fact that the more spirituous 

 elements of certain substances were thus separated 

 naturally led to the question whether the essential 

 essences of life might not be discoverable in the same 

 way. In order that all might participate in the experi- 

 ments, they were conducted in open session of the 

 Academy, thus guarding against the danger of any one 

 member obtaining for his exclusive personal use a pos- 

 sible elixir of life. A wide range of the animal and 

 vegetable kingdom, including cats, dogs and birds of 

 various species, were thus analyzed. The practice of 

 dissection was introduced on a large scale. That of the 

 cadaver of an elephant occupied several sessions, and 

 was of such interest that the monarch himself was a 

 spectator. 



To the same epoch with the formation and first 

 work of these two bodies belongs the invention of a 

 mathematical method which in its importance to the 

 advance of exact science may be classed with the 

 invention of the alphabet in its relation to the progress 

 of society at large. The use of algebraic symbols to 

 represent quantities had its origin before the commence- 

 ment of the new era, and gradually grew into a highly 

 developed form during the first two centuries of that era. 

 But this method could represent quantities only as fixed. 

 It is true that the elasticity inherent in the use of such 

 symbols permitted of their being applied to any and 



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