4-0 THE MYSTERY OF LIFE. 



virtue of the properties of the molecules them- 

 selves in such a manner that tissue results, is 

 supported by argument of about the same 

 degree of importance as that which might be 

 urged in favour of the theory that St. Paul's 

 and Westminster Abbey resulted from the pro- 

 perties of the stones of which those edifices 

 are built. 



But further, it will be observed in the drawing 

 that the fibres of the muscular tissue interlace, 

 and that the fibres of the nerves interlace with 

 one another and with the muscular fibres in a 

 most intricate manner. It appears that there is 

 a certain proportion of nerve tissue to muscular 

 tissue, which is constant for each particular kind 

 of muscular tissue only. The nerve fibres form 

 an uninterrupted network which exhibits no 

 endings, which is everywhere distinct from the 

 muscular tissue, but the fibres of which cross 

 the muscular fibres at frequent intervals, and 

 are sometimes very close to them. Will any 

 one venture to affirm that the arrangement 

 which is delineated in the drawings, and which 

 can be demonstrated in many specimens, is to 

 be accounted for by physics and chemistry ? 

 If so, let him make the attempt, let him adduce 



