IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 21 9 



consider with what infinite wisdom the Creator has di- 

 vided the means by which animals and plants are quali- 

 fied for their functions, for their peculiar vital manifes- 

 tations. 



The living part of a plant acquires the whole force 

 and direction of its vital energy from the absence of all 

 conductors of force. By this means the leaf is enabled 

 to overcome the strongest chemical attractions, to de- 

 compose carbonic acid, and to assimilate the elements 

 of its nourishment. 



In the flower alone does a process similar to the 

 change of matter in the animal body occur. There, 

 phenomena of motion appear ; but the mechanical ef- 

 fects are not propagated to a distance, owing to the ab- 

 sence of conductors of force. 



The same vital force which we recognise in the plant 

 as an almost unlimited capacity of growth, is converted 

 in the animal body into moving power (into a current of 

 vital force) ; and a most wonderful and wise economy 

 has destined for the nourishment of the animal only 

 such compounds as have a composition identical with 

 that of the organs which generate force, that is, with the 

 muscular tissue. The expenditure of force which the 

 living parts of animals require, in order to reproduce 

 themselves from the blood ; the resistance of the chem- 

 ical force which has to be overcome in the azotized 

 constituents of food by the vital agency of the organs 

 destined to convert them into blood ; these are as noth- 

 ing compared to the force with which the elements of 



