58 
THE ADVANTAGE OF COMBINING THE 
parts of organized bodies. Inorganic bodies 
can therefore subsist after liaving been sepa- 
rated into pieces. Each piece of a broken 
crystal exists as well as if united to the other 
pieces’^. Neither can inorganic bodies re- 
produce or regenerate, by their own proper 
power, parts which have been separated frpm 
them, as is the case with those simple living 
bodies that are divisible without loss of 
existence. 
X LII. In reference to the form and com- 
position of bodies, if we examine the changes 
they undergo during their existence, their 
duration, their mode of origin, and their rela- 
tions with external influences, we also here 
discover considerable differences between 
those that are organized and those that are 
not. 
The form and aggregation of all living bo- 
dies vary during their existence, at stated pe- 
riods, and according to inherent laws. All 
vegetables and animals are born with a very 
simple form, and, at the time of their origin, 
they are composed, internally, of a very small 
number of parts, having a simple configuration. 
By degrees, in proportion as their volume 
augments, their form and aggregation become 
more complicated. All of them observe a 
periodicity in their development. Moreover, 
we observe, that the majority suffer by de- 
grees, in the progress of age, a sinking in their 
form, and changes in the composition of their 
liquids and solids. 
(To be continued.) 
THE EDITOR’S MOTIVE FOR AP- 
PENDING THE MECHANICAL ARTS 
TO THE ;J0URNAL OF FOREIGN 
SCIENCE. 
Some of our contemporaries may be 
surprised to find articles on the Mechanical 
Arts appended to our Journal of Foreign 
Science. We beg to call their attention 
to the reasons which have led us to add 
this department of interesting matter ; there 
are at the present moment upwards of 700 
accomplished and highly educated medical 
• Richerand has perfectly explained this in 
the following- terms : “ Tontes les parties d’un 
corps vivant, soit vegetal, soit animal, tendent et 
concourent a nn but commun, le conservation 
de I’individu, et de I’espece ; chacun de leurs 
organs, quoique doue d’une action particuliere, 
agit pour remplir cet objet ; et de cette serie 
d’actions concurrentes et harmoniquesresultela 
vie generale, ou la vie proprement dite. Au con- 
traire, chaque partie d’une masse brute ou in- 
organique est independente des autres parties, 
aux quelles elle n’est unie que par la force ou 
I’affinite d’aggregation ; lorsqu’elle en est se- 
peree elle existe avec toutes ses proprietes carac- 
teristiques et ne differe que par son volume de 
la masse a la quelle elle a cesse d’appurtenir.” 
men scattered over the vast territories of 
our Eastern possessions. The duties of 
many consists simply of attending a few 
sick in a solitary hospital, and the British 
Government of India have not yet disco- 
vered the admirable advantages which 
would accrue from employing these able 
men out of the immediate sphere of their 
profession. Now as there is scarcely a me- 
dical man in India who has not acquired 
some knowledge of chemistry-— a knowledge 
it does not require much penetration and 
ingenuity to prove might be applied to 
improve the arts and manufactories now 
going on in the great cities and marts in 
this country. What soil in the whole 
world is so rich in productions as this, and 
so calculated to jdeld all that is now obtain- 
ed from foreign countries ? observe to what 
the genius of chemical science has done 
for France and England, and what may it 
not do for India ! ! 
We are aw^are that we may be charged 
with encouraging an indulgence in specula- 
tive refinement which has in some in- 
stances led men out of the line of useful 
industry, and by the loss of property, to the 
ruin of their families. Such has been the 
result, it is true, but generally speaking, to 
the artist only, seldom to the man of 
science. The chemist is better able than 
one who is only a mechanic to predict from 
an experiment on a small scale, the probable 
issue of more extensive attempts. Watt, by 
a clear insight into the doctrine of latent 
heat, resulting from his thorough knowledge 
of chemistry, and seconded by mechanical 
skill, taught the way to bring the steam 
engine to perfection. Wedgew’ood, by the 
same knowledge advanced the art of manu- 
facturing porcelain, neither must we forget 
Scheele’s discovery of oxygenized muriatic 
acid and Bethollet’s instructions in its ap- 
plication to the art of bleaching, and Sequin 
and Davy established processes strictly che- 
mical which brought into perfection the art 
of tanning and preparation of leather. Che- 
mistry is the foundation of those arts that 
furnish us with saline substances, an order 
of bodies highly useful in the alFairs of 
