8TEUCTUEAL BOTANY 



CHAPTER I 



FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 



Organic Bodies, Organs and Functions. — Living bodies differ from 

 those which are hfeless in their abihty to grow by converting into their 

 own substance extraneous and dissimilar substances, as seen in the use 

 of carbonic acid in the production of starch and celhilose. This process 

 is called Assimilation. They consist also of more or less distinct parts, 

 each of which performs special work differing from that performed by 

 the other parts. These parts are called Organs or Members, and the 

 special work which each organ performs is called its Function. Living 

 bodies are, therefore, designated as Organic Bodies and the part of 

 nature composed of them the Organic Kingdom. The term "organic 

 body" is usually preferable to "living body," as it apphes equally well 

 to a body in which life has ceased to exist. A third important char- 

 acteristic of living bodies which may be mentioned is their power to give 

 origin to other independent living bodies, which, separating from their 

 parent, or remaining attached thereto, grow into a resemblance to it. 

 That is, they possess the power of Reproduction. 



Organic Matter. — The assimilated matter of organic bodies is called 

 Organic Matter. Organic matter may be living, as cytoplasm, or lifeless 

 as starch. It may, as in the case of the starch, be prepared for future 

 use as food, or be for the construction of tissue, as in the case of cellu- 

 lose, or it may exist as disassimilated matter resulting from the per- 

 formance of function, as the poisonous ptomaines of bacteria. The 

 latter may still be of some service in the plant economy, as are volatile 

 oils, or, perhaps, be entirely useless. 



Plants and Animals. — Organic bodies are of two kinds — Vegetable 

 and Animal — and are respectively denominated Plants and Animals. 



Biology. — The study of the organic kingdom constitutes Biology. 



Anatomy. — Biology in attention to the structure of bodies is Anatomy. 



