IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 207 



By means of the electrical force, or that of heat, 

 we can give the most varied directions to the mani- 

 festations of chemical force. By these means we 

 can fix, as it were, the order in which the elemen- 

 tary particles shall unite. Let us remove the cause 

 (heat or electricity) which has turned the balance 

 in favour of the weaker attraction in one direction, 

 and the stronger attraction will shew itself continu- 

 ally active in another direction ; and if this stronger 

 attraction can overcome the vis inertias of the ele- 

 mentary particles, they will unite in a new form, 

 and a new compound of different properties must 

 be the result. 



In compounds of this kind, in which, therefore, 

 the free manifestation of the chemical force has 

 been impeded by other forces, a blow, or mechanical 

 friction, or the contact of a substance, the particles 

 of which are in a state of motion (decomposition, 

 transformation), or any external cause, whose ac- 

 tivity is added to the stronger attraction of the ele- 

 mentary particles in another direction, may suffice 

 to give the preponderance to this stronger attrac- 

 tion, to overcome the vis inertiae, to alter the form 

 and structure of the compound, which are the 

 result of foreign causes, and to produce the resolu- 

 tion of the compound into one or more new com- 

 pounds with altered properties. 



Transformations, or as they may be called, phe- 

 nomena of motion, in compounds of this class, may 

 be effected by means of the free and available 



