138 LIFE IN NATUKE. 



new forces, or new laws, it is precisely by virtue of 

 the unaltering laws and force of nature, that it can be 

 constructed and kept in operation. As a machine, it 

 is dependent upon, and an example of, the laws 

 which prevail without it; if they ceased or changed 

 their operation, its adaptation and its power were lost. 

 The case is the same with the living body. This also 

 is dependent on, and is an example of, the laws and 

 forces which prevail without it. If the laws of 

 inorganic nature changed or ceased, if the forces of 

 inorganic nature were no longer what they are, 

 the animal structure would be of use, it would even 

 exist, no more. The organic world does not differ 

 from the inorganic in its essence. 



But it differs. It would be a fatal error happily 

 it is an impossible one to confound the two. There 

 is a difference in the mode of operation, though 

 the elements are the same. The physical powers 

 have received in the organic world a particular 

 direction, and are made to work to certain re- 

 sults which are attainable only through living 

 structures. 



Surely here, then, we are in possession, up to a 



