130 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



and to those great storehouses of inorganic elements 

 earth, air, and water. 



Whatever be the nature of the functions of the lowest 

 living things, and their relations with the environment 

 or aqueous medium in which they alone exist, we find 

 on coming to those more definite organisms which can 

 without room for doubt, be ranged under either the 

 Animal or the Vegetable Kingdom, that the members 

 of each great class have functions definitely related to 

 one another and to the world of unorganized matter. 



Bearing in mind that the fundamental constituents 

 of living things are carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and 

 oxygen, we must also remember that the degree in which 



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J 



other constituents (such as sulphur and phosphorus with 

 various saline materials) enter into the composition of 

 organic matter, is altogether trifling when compared 

 with the immense bulk of living tissue that is almost 

 solely built up of these four elements in their diverse 

 modes of combination. 



We shall then be the better able to appreciate the 

 doctrine so eloquently expounded by the eminent French 

 chemist, M. Dumas, in a work by himself and M. Bous- 

 singault, on « The Chemical and Physiological Balance 



Nature.' He c; 

 t forcible langu 



■■> 



plemental relation existing between the functions of 

 plants and animals. Plants in their natural and healthy 

 state decompose carbonic acid incessantly, fixing its 



simi 



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\ 



rii- 



flot all 



TheC2 



of amnionic 



are 



sition, 



andtl 



unite witl 



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sobstances enter 

 tion takes place, 

 order may arise, 

 apparatuses of 

 aceous matters 

 formance of ani 

 atmosphere in 

 gm burnt ince 

 "itrogen is ceas 

 °ff in the diff( 



. ,' '^'^ continual ■ 



f'"«» save 



ent, 



solid 



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and 





