44 



OF NUTRITION 



lar particle will begin to expand and to exhibit 

 the form of an entire and independent being, of 

 the fcioie fpecies with that from which it was 

 detached. Thus, a willow or a polypus, as they 

 contain a larger proportion of particles fimilar 

 to the whole, than moft other fubftances, when 

 cut into any indefinite number of pieces, each 

 fegment becomes a new body fimilar to the pa- 

 rent from which it was feparated. 



Now, in a body of which all the particles are 

 * fimilar to itfelf, the organization is the moil 

 firaple, as has been remarked in the tirfl chap- 

 ter ; for it is only a repetition of the fame torm, 

 a congeries of figures, limilarly organized. It is 

 for this reafon that the moft fimple bodies, the 

 moft imperfed: fpecies, are moft eafily and moft 

 abundantly reproduced. But, if «-n organized 

 body contain only few particles fimilar to itfelf, 

 as thefe alone are capable of a iecond expanfion, 

 its power of reproducing will be both more dif- 

 ficult, and more circumicribed as to the number 

 produced. The organization of bodies of this 

 laft kind is alfo more complex, becaule it pof- 

 fefles fewer parts which are fimilar to the whole ; 

 and, therefore, the more ; erfectly a body is or- 

 ganized, its power of reproduction v;ill be pro- 

 portionally diminiihed. 



in this manner we 'difcover nouriihment, 

 growth, and propagation, to be effeCls of the fame 

 caufe. Organized bodies are nouriflied by the 

 particles of aliment which are fimilar to them ; 



tliey 



