INORGANIC BODIES. 
When we pull off a branch from a tree, the stem itself 
is injured, while’ the detached portion speedily exhibits a 
change in every sensible quality. The leaves wither and 
drop off, the pliant twig stiffens, and the fresh bark as- 
sumes the appearance of a shrivelled crust. Changes 
equally obvious present themselves when a limb is sepa- 
rated from the body of an animal. Putrefaction soon re- 
duces part of it to earth, and disengages the remainder in 
air. 
In all these circumstances we find, that the instant the 
parts of an organized being are separated, a destructive 
process commences, to whith there is nothing analogous in 
the mineral kmgdom. The bodies which formerly at- 
tracted one another, and in their combinations exhibited to 
us the finest forms, and executed the most complicated 
movements, now appear to repel one another, and hasten 
to have the bond of union dissolved. This character, 
therefore, which we have now stated, independent of any 
other, is sufficient to pomt out the magnitude of that mter- 
val which separates the inorganic from the organized king- 
dom, and divides the living from the dead. 
II. Permanence of Inorganic Bodies.—If we take a sa- 
line mixture, and induce crystallisation, symmetrical bodies 
are obtained, which are considered as the most per- 
fect models of imorganic existence. These crystals, of 
whatever size, would continue to exhibit the same form 
and structure, unless acted upon by some external force of 
a chemical or mechanical kind. Within, every particle is 
in its proper place, nor does there exist any power to alter, 
increase or diminish. But the case is widely different with 
organized bodies. They acquire definite forms and struc- 
tures, which are capable of resisting for a time, the ordi- 
nary laws by which the changes of inorganic matter are re- 
