ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



APPLIED TO 



PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 



I. IN the animal ovum, as well as in the seed of 

 a plant, we recognize a certain remarkable force, the 

 source of growth, or increase in the mass, and of re- 

 production, or of supply of the matter consumed ; a 

 force in a state of rest. By the action of external in- 

 fluences, by impregnation, by the presence of air and 

 moisture, the condition of static equilibrium of this 

 force is disturbed ; entering into a state of motion or 

 activity, it exhibits itself in the production of a series 

 of forms, which, although occasionally bounded by 

 right lines, are yet widely distinct from geometrical 

 forms, such as we observe in crystallised minerals. 

 This force is called the vital force, vis mice or vitality. 



The increase of mass in a plant is determined by 

 the occurrence of a decomposition which takes place 

 in certain parts of the plant under the influence of 

 light and heat. 



In the vital process, as it goes on in vegetables, 

 it is exclusively inorganic matter which undergoes 

 this decomposition ; and if, with the most distin- 



