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410 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. [July 



than one of those phenomena of inorganic 

 life, the result of the mutual and repeated 

 action of two heterogeneous bodies upon each 

 other? We have, on the one side, the hy- 

 drogen gas, conducted by the pipe, and 

 brought into the presence of oxygen con- 

 tained in the air. These are two bodies con- 

 sidered as simple, but having different prop- 

 erties. Place them in contact, under suita- 

 ble conditions of temperature, and the mu- 

 tual action immediately commences; they 

 combine with an activity which becomes vis- 

 ible to the senses by the rapid development 

 of heat and light; and in this continuous, 

 vital movement, their differences are extin- 

 guished, or rather combine and harmonize in 

 a new body, a product, the end of all this 

 activity, in which the antagonism of the 

 primitive elements has ceased. This new 

 body is water ; it is a liquid, and no longer 

 a gas ; it is a body, all the physical proper- 

 ties of which are ditferent from those which 

 compose it, which, as you know, play very 

 different parts throughout nature. The same 

 gas that serves to light us, contains also car- 

 bon ; this also combines with oxygen to form 

 a new body of carbonic acid gas, the proper- 

 ties of which are all special in it. 



" Each of these new products may, in 

 turn, enter into relations of exchange with 

 others, and pass as an elementary body into 

 a new combination, the result of which will 

 be a body composed of four simple elements, 

 but endowed, as such, with entirely different 

 qualities, belonging to it alone. It may, in 

 turn, become one of the elements composing 

 a multitude of bodies; and it is thus that 

 the sixty elements our chemical means have 

 not enabled us to decompose, which chemists 

 call simple bodies, supply nature with mate- 

 rials sufficient for the immeasurable variety 

 of all the compound bodies that exist. 



" What do we see, finally, in all this phy- 

 sical' and chemical process? A primitive 

 difference between two substances, an action 

 and reaction of one upon the other, and 

 their combination in a new body, which may, 

 in its turn perform the same part." * * * 



"Without coming into combination, a dif- 

 ference between two bodies excites none the 

 less a vital movement. Place near each other 

 a plate of zinc and a plate of copper ; these 

 two enter immediately into an interchange 

 of positive and negative electricity, and give 

 birth to these powerful electrical and mag- 

 netic currents which modern industry puts 

 to such admirable use. I say, further, place 



side by side two plates of the same metal, 

 but unequally heated, and there is establish- 

 ed between them an interchange of temper- 

 ature, and of electrical currents of the same 

 nature. Thus every where a simple differ- 

 ence, be it of matter, be it of condition, be 

 it of position, excites a manifestation of vi- 

 tal forces, a mutual exchange between the 

 bodies, each giving to the other what the 

 other does not possess. To multiply these 

 differences, to increase their variety, is to 

 render the actions and reactions more fre- 

 quent, is to extend and to intensify life. 



" But let us pass to organized nature. It 

 would be easy to demonstrate that the law 

 we have just recognized is also that which 

 governs the growth of the vegetable ; but I 

 would rather trace it in the animal world, 

 wherein it is expressed still more clearly. 



" Let us see, first, how nature proceeds in 

 the formation of the organic individual, the 

 animal. No one has shown this better than 

 my learned friend,* whom I need not name 

 in this place. Thanks to him, these facts 

 have become familiar, I shall need only to 

 recall them to mind. 



" [ begin with the animal considered in 

 itself as an individual. In a liquid animal 

 matter, without precise form, homogeneous, 

 at least in appearance, a mass is outlined 

 which takes determinate contours, and is 

 distinguished from the rest ; it is the egg. 

 Soon, in the interior of the egg, the elements 

 separate, diverging tendencies are establish- 

 ed ; the matter accumulates and concentrates 

 itself upon certain points; these accumula- 

 tions assume more distinct forms and more 

 specific characters ; we see organs traced, a 

 head, an eye, a heart, an alimentary canal. 

 But this diversification does not go on inde- 

 finitely. Under the influence of a special 

 force, all these diverse tendencies are drawn 

 together towards a single end ; these distinct 

 organs are united and coordinated in one 

 whole, and perform their functions in the 

 interest and for the service of the individual 

 commanding them. 



What, then, has been the course pursu- 

 ed here by nature ? 



" The point of departure is a unit, but a 

 homogeneous unit, without internal differen- 

 ces ; a chaotic unit, if I may venture to say 

 so ; for what is a chaos but this absence of 

 organization in a mass, all the parts of which 

 are alike ? 



* Professor Agazziz. 



