ON THE ORGANIZATION OF LIVING BEINGS.' 
615 
agents, life is produced; and hence there is a relation between their ele- 
mentary constituents much closer than that of proximity only, namely, that 
of mutual dependence ; so that, as no one part can continue to exist without 
the rest, it cannot be regarded as possessing that separate individuality which 
belongs to the whole system alone. Thus, the perfect plant, which has roots, 
stem, and leaves, is an example of an organized structure in which the 
relation of every part to the integrity of the whole is sufficiently obvious ; 
since every one is aware that, if completely deprived of any of these parts, 
the plant will perish, unless endowed with the power of replacing them.” 
If the reader will carefully compare the above quoted paragraphs, 
he will easily observe how the sentences composing the latter are 
shifted (if I may so express myself) backwards and forwards, to 
suit the purpose of this reallv contemptible plagiarist : indeed, the 
cool impudence of this individual is certainly surprising. But to 
again proceed, he says, page 206 — 
“ For, what the parent communicates, in giving origin to a new being, is 
not the absolute substantial structure itself, so much as the power to 
appropriate certain parts of the surrounding elements,” &c. 
Dr. Carpenter, paragraph 18, pages 15 and 16, upon the same 
matter, says — 
“ For the parent communicates to its offspring not so much the structure 
itself, as the power of forming that structure from the surrounding elements.” 
The writer next informs us that 
“ Organized bodies are capable of being resolved by chemical analysis into 
ultimate elements, but the number of the simple elementary substances which 
may be obtained from these sources are only about seventeen ; the remaining 
thirty-eight of the fifty-five found in the mineral world never becoming part 
of a living being. Of the four widely spread elements — oxygen, hydrogen, 
nitrogen, and carbon — two, at least, will be found in every organic compound ; 
hence, as Dr. Prout has suggested, these four may be considered as the 
essential elements of organic matter ; while the other simple substances are 
much less extensively diffused, and are found in smaller quantities, and there- 
fore may be termed its incidental elements. The latter are sulphur, phos- 
phorus, chlorine, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, silicon, aluminum, 
iron, manganese, iodine, and bromine. Between these elementary substances 
and the perfect organized animal or vegetable texture, there intervenes a class 
of compounds, obtained in the early stages of the chemical analysis, which 
are called proximate principles. Such are gluten, starch, lignin, &c., from 
the vegetable kingdom ; or proteine, gelatine, fibrine, and albumen, from the 
animal. From these, again, a great variety of compounds have, by various 
processes, been obtained, owing to the tendency in their aliments to enter 
into new combinations.” 
To trace the original of the above, we must now return to the 
first volume of Todd and Bowman’s work, where we shall find the 
whole verbatim ; one part of which is in page 6, and the remain- 
ing part is in page 7. 
“ Organized bodies are capable of being resolved, by chemical analysis, 
into the inorganic simple elements ; but the list of simple substances which 
may be obtained from this source comprises only about seventeen. Of the 
