AND THOSE OF INORGANIC BODIES. 
57 
position does not only follow from what has 
already been said concerning the connexion 
of liquids and solids, but also from the man- 
ner in which organized bodies are formed in 
the midst of matters which produce tliem. 
The radicle, proceeding from the fertile seed 
of a plant, determines tlie growth of the stalk, 
which afterwards plays the same part with 
respect to the leaves and flowers. The parts 
which appear first are the cause of the mani- 
festations of those that succeed. Thus, in 
the embryos of the more complicated animals, 
the two most generally extended apparatus, 
the nervous and vascular systems, are those 
which are first formed, and from whose forma- 
tion that of the others proceeds. 
A similar relationship of cause and effect 
does not exist between the parts whose aggre- 
gation produces minerals. When a crystal is 
formed in the midst of a liquid, the particles 
of which it is composed are united to each 
other by the laws of affinity and cohesion 
alone, without the first which congregate, 
exercising a determining action on the forma- 
tion and arrangement of the others, as hap- 
pens in the formation of organic bodies, 
XL. Once produced and formed, the solid 
and liquid parts remain, so long as they en- 
dure, in a continual state of dependence and 
reciprocity of action,* that is to sav, that 
they are to each other as cause and effect, or, 
to employ the expression of Kant,t as means 
and end. The liquids contained in defined 
spaces of different kinds, and spread through- 
out the solids, combine with them, and pass 
from the liquid to the solid state. The solids, 
on the other hand, are redissolved and return 
to the liquid state. Moreover, the liquids act 
on the organs which they urge to the produc- 
tion of manifestations of activity, while the 
organs, in their turn reacting on the liquids, 
keep the.min motion and modify their proper- 
ties. Every part of a plant or animal contri- 
butes, by its manifestation of activity, to the 
preservation of the individual in the full ex- 
ercise of its faculties, and indirectly also to 
the maintenance of the species. The dura- 
tion of vegetables, with a few exceptions, 
which will be spoken of hereafter, depends on 
the root, the stalk, and leaves, which all con- 
tribute to it by their special functions. These 
parts and the flowers, or genital organs, which 
they produce, assure the duration of the spe- 
cies. The same is the case in animals. The 
organs of digestion, of absorption, of respira- 
tion, of the circulation, and of secretion, as- 
sure, by the very fact of their manifestations 
of activity, both their own preservation and 
that of their numerous apparatus, of the or- 
gans of the senses and of the locomotive ap- 
paratus, just as the functions of these latter 
contribute also to the preservation of the 
other organs and of themselves. The geni- 
tals, the existence and the functions of which 
* The reciprocal action of the parts in liv- 
ing bodies was known to Hippocrates, since he 
says (lib. de alimento ;) Consensus uniis, con- 
spiratio una, conseutiantia omnia ; and in another 
place (de locis in homine ;) mihi quidem videtur 
principium corporis nullum esse, sed omnia simi- 
liter principium et omnia finis, 
f Kritik der Urtheilskraft, v. ii, p, 292. 
depend on the other apparatus of the indivi- 
dual, do not re-act on them as cau.se, nor are 
they necessary to the preservation of the indi- 
vidual, but they certainly are to that of the 
species by their manifestations of activity. 
All the parts, then, which enter into the com- 
position of an organic body, together with 
their qualities and manifestations of activity, 
are in a mutual dependence on each other 
and constitute a perfect whole, so that the 
particular activity belonging to the individual 
and to the species is thereby preserved. 
The homogeneous particles which consti- 
tute a crystal, and which are united by cohe- 
sion, have not this reciprocity of action in re- 
ference to each other, as Bichat has shown*. 
They do not act mutually the part of conser- 
vative agent and cause, relative to their qua- 
lities, as is the case in the parts of an organic 
body. 
XLI. As the different solid and liquid 
parts, existing in an organic body, are in inti- 
mate connexion with each other, and as their 
duration is conditional on the reciprocity of 
action of the parts which constitute it, the 
greater number of living bodies, especially all 
those that are complex, do not suffer division, 
without being deprived of their existence and 
of their own proper activity. Organic bodies, 
then, in the rigorous acceptation of the word, 
are individuals which cannot be divided, in- 
asmuch as such division annihilates life in 
them . 
It is true there exist several organic bodies 
which are susceptible of division to a certain 
degree, without having their existence com- 
promised by this operation. In this number 
are many plants, especially perennial plants, 
and amongst animals, polypi, some radiariae, 
and worms. This circumstance does not con- 
fute what has been said on indivisibility as a 
characteristic ofliving bodies. On one hand, 
many plaints, like polypi, represent an union 
or collection of several smaller organisms, 
which may continue to live after they have 
been detached from their stock. On the 
other hand, all their parts present a certain 
uniformity of organization and action, and 
such an independence, that they are able to 
exist apart from each other, and produce or 
regenerate, by their own activity, the parts 
necessary to the perfection of the species. 
The character of individuality is the more 
pronounced, in organic bodies, as their struc- 
ture is more complicated and their manifesta- 
tions of activity more varied. On the con- 
trary, a less difference is exhibited by the 
parts entering into their composition, or the 
more they are similar, less is the diversity in 
their actions perceivable, less striking is the 
character of indivisibility, and more feeble is 
the connexion of the parts of the same orga- 
nism, because parts that are similar have the 
conditions of their existence more in them- 
selves, and are less dependent on each 
other. 
Regarding inorganic bodies, they do not 
form individuals, because they are the result 
of an assemblage of homogeneous particles, 
having no relation of production or preserva- 
tion with each other, as have the different 
* Anatomic generate. Introduction, p. 23. 
