ORGANIC AND INORGANIC. 411 



will unite itself to C in preference to B ; and if D 

 passes by, will divorce itself from C, and unite itself to 

 D. Such compounds of a compound are still more 

 complex in their forms, and more varied in their 

 minds. Water which is composed of two gases — 

 oxygen and hydrogen — when hot, becomes a vapour ; 

 when cold, becomes a crystal. In the latter case it 

 displays a structural capacity. Crystals assume par- 

 ticular forms according to the substances of which 

 they are composed ; they may be classed into species, 

 and if their forms are injured by accident, they have 

 the power of repairing their structure by imbibing mat- 

 ter from without. A live form is the result of matter 

 subjected to certain complex forces, the chief of which 

 is the chemical power of the sun. It is continually 

 being injured by the wear and tear of its own activity; 

 it is continually darning and stitching its own life. 

 After a certain period of time it loses its self-mending 

 power, and consequently dies. The crystal grows 

 from without by simple accretions or putting on of 

 coats. The plant or animal grows and re-grows from 

 within by means of a chemical operation. Moreover, 

 the crystal is merely an individual ; the plant or 

 animal is the member of a vast community ; before it 

 dies, and usually as it dies, it produces a repetition of 

 itself. The mental forces which inhabit the primeval 

 jelly dot are more complex than those which inhabit 

 the crystal ; but those of the crystal are more complex 

 than those of a gas, and those of a gas than those of 

 the true elementary atoms which know only two forces 

 — Attraction and Repulsion — the primeval Pull and 

 Push, which lie at the basis of all Nature's operations. 

 The absorption of food and the repetition of form 

 in the animal are not at first to be distinguished from 



