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may believe. It is as difficult/' says Mr. Tupper, 

 who has written ably upon the subject, " to ascertain 

 the nature of vegetable existence as to determine what 

 constitutes the living principle in animals. '' Darwin, 

 by the aid of imaginary beings similar to the Dryads 

 and Harmadryads of the classic mythology, has 

 raised plants to a position in the order of nature su- 

 perior to that to which animals are entitled. Other 

 philosophers, taking a totally antagonist opinion, esti- 

 mate vegetables as bodies, only somewhat more organ- 

 ised than crystals, but, like these, entirely and exclu- 

 sively subject to chemical and mechanical changes. 



The above opinions are equally erroneous, as will 

 appear from the facts arranged in the following pages. 

 It might easily be made to appear that the gradation 

 from reason to instinct, from instinct inanimation, is 

 as gradual as the transitions of light from the noon- 

 tide to the midnight of a summer's day ; but these few 

 remarks must be confined to that section of creation 

 that commences from the close of the animal classes in 

 the zoophyte, and terminates where inorganic matter 

 commences in the crystal ; and the details must be 

 specially directed to demonstrate how closely it ap- 

 proaches, how distinctly it is divided from, the 

 former. 



Let us first consider the comparative composition 

 of animals and plants demonstrated by the researches 

 of chemists. Their constituents are identical : — 



