190 DEFINITIONS. 



development, and generation which have been shown to 

 constitute the principal functions of organized matter. 

 Nay, so truly incompatible do these functions seem with 

 matter in a brute state, that when they cease to exist, 

 organized matter soon falls within the province of the 

 mineral kingdom. It follows therefore, that as we have 

 seen incontinuous beings to be dependent on continu- 

 ous beings for their existence, so we may safely ac- 

 count inorganic matter to be the officina from which 

 organized matter has been constructed ; and it is in this^ 

 sense alone that it shall be considered in the following, 

 pages. 



