BARON CUVIER. 63 



elements of a living body has been effected by 

 the vital principle of the body from which it de- 

 scends, we cannot bnt find in it a similar force, 

 and the causes of this force, in order to exercise 

 a similar action in favour of the body, which, in 

 its turn, descends from it. But, although our 

 knowledge of the composition of living bodies is 

 too imperfect to deduce clearly from it the ef- 

 fects they present to us, we may, at any rate, 

 make use of that which we do know, in order to 

 recognise these bodies, even when inactive, and 

 to distinguish their remains after death ; for in 

 no unorganised bodies do we find fibrous or cel- 

 lular tissue, or that multiplicity of volatile ele- 

 ments which forms the characters of organisation, 

 whether actually living, or having lived. Thus, 

 while inanimate solids are only composed of po- 

 lyhedral particles, mutually attracted by the 

 faces they present ; while they only resolve them- 

 selves into a limited number of elementary sub- 

 stances ; while they are only formed by a com- 

 bination of these substances, and an aggregation 

 of these particles ; while they only increase by 

 the juxta-position of new particles, which en- 

 velope the first mass by their layers ; and wliile 

 they are only destroyed by some mechanical or 

 chemical agency, which alters their combin- 



