IB PROPERTIES 



active roots of the plant absorb the nutritious particles 

 from the soil, which are transmitted to the leaves, and 

 there converted into a peculiar substance which furnish- 

 es the secretions and nourishing sap. The animal seizes 

 the heterogeneous materials of nourishment which come 

 within its reach, dissolves and decomposes them en- 

 dows them with new properties, and at last renders them 

 fit to become parts of the various organs of which it is 

 itself composed. The particles of which an unorgani- 

 zed body is formed, are never changed to give place to 

 others, but continue with the body as long as it exsits. 

 But in organic bodies, the particles after a time lose 

 those peculiar properties with which they were endowed, 

 and then being no longer fitted to remain as parts of a 

 living being they are taken away and new ones supply 

 their places. 



Emily. I will venture to suggest another distinction, 

 which I hope may prove more fortunate than any other, 

 the surfaces of minerals are extremely rough and ir- 

 regular, or if regular, as they are in crystals, just as 

 remarkably smooth and even. Now, the surfaces of or- 

 ganic bodies are neither rough nor even, but are more 

 or less rounded throughout the outline continually wav- 

 ing. Is not this a proper distinction ? 



Dr. 13. Yes ; you are perfectly correct, and it is on 

 this remarkable difference of the outline in these two 

 classes of bodies that the beauty of each depends. That 

 gently rounded and undulating form so beautiful in ani- 

 mals and plants, would be a defect in a crystal for this 

 pleases us solely by the regularity of its angles and the 

 smoothness of its surfaces. These two classes of beings 

 are essentially different in the manner of their origin. It 

 is a universal law of nature, that living beings derive their 

 origin from preexisting living beings. Every plant and 

 every animal supposes the existence of other plants and 

 animals, more nearly resembling them than any other 

 objects in nature. All living bodies have begun their ex- 

 istence within other living beings, in a rudimentary state 



