IS LIFE UNIVERSAL? 147 



nity in the arrangement of the elements, and a 

 structure adapted to the performance of the necessary 

 functions. Now we must, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, consider the living body, like all other 

 material substances, to consist of " atoms" minute 

 particles, beyond which we cannot conceive division 

 to be Carried. These atoms, by their arrangement, 

 constitute the organic matter; and if we reflect, we 

 see that they themselves, separately considered, are 

 not organic. They are simply the materials out 

 of which the living body is built up, and are 

 the same in the most highly organized animal 

 as in the simplest mineral. The ultimate atoms 

 of oxygen and hydrogen, for example, are the same 

 in the human brain as they are in water; the 

 living substance is necessarily made up of particles 

 which are not themselves h'ving. In other words: 

 Physical life is a living relation of unliving parts. 

 The ultimate atoms of which a living body is com- 

 posed are not individually possessors of life ; the life 

 is in their mutual connection. 



This form of life, which depends upon an oppo- 

 sition to chemical affinity, and therefore rests upon 



102 



