THE LAWS OF LIFE. 239 



One fact connected with the germination of the 

 seed deserves especial notice, namely, that it is 

 attended with an increase of temperature. The 

 growth cannot, therefore, result from a conversion 

 of heat into any other form of force. The true idea 

 would seem to be, that there is, as it were, an excess 

 of cheiaical action above that which becomes the 

 vital action; and which excess, therefore, assumes 

 the ordinary form of heat. A falling body, if it 

 impart its entire momentum of motion to another, 

 produces no heat; but if only some of the motion 

 be imparted, a proportionate amount of heat is mani- 

 fested. 



As another instance, we may take together the 

 growth of mould on decaying matter, and the pro- 

 cess of digestive assimilation. The forces at work, 

 and the mode of their operation, appear, in both 

 these cases, to be the same as those which we have 

 traced in germination. The chemical motion of 

 certain particles becomes the vital motion of certain 

 other particles, which present to it an appropriate 

 resistance. The vegetable germs which develop 

 into the mouldy growth, represent accurately enough 



