182 ANIMAL CHEMISTRY. 
not being obedient to the decomposing laws of | 
affinity, but rather employing these forces to 
elaborate materials from the organic matters 
around them in order to reproduce themselves. 
The fibrin and albumen of the blood are of this 
character. Organic bodies are produced by the 
joint action of those organized, such as sugar, 
gum, oily matters, vegetable acids, alkaloids, &c. 
The organic and organized matters produced 
by plants constitute the food of animals, which 
employ them partly for nutrition and partly for 
combustion. ‘The important organized constitu- 
ents of the animal system are all nitrogenous; 
and hence the necessity of nitrogenous food to 
‘supply their gradual waste and decay. Starch, 
gum, sugar, oils, &c., containing no nitrogen, 
support life but for a short time, their principal 
use being to supply carbon for combustion, where- 
with the heat of the body is maintained. 
In respiration the amylaceous and oily sub- 
stances, &c., are burned, their oxygen uniting 
| with as much of their hydrogen as is necessary 
’ to form water, while their carbon and the excess 
of hydrogen are converted into carbonic acid and 
water. The dark venous blood absorbs oxygen 
from the air in the lungs becoming of a florid 
red, and arterialized ; but the greater part of the 
oxidation takes place in the extreme capillaries, 
from which the venous blood conveys carbonic 
acid to the lungs, where it parts with it, takes 
up oxygen, and becomes again arterialized. This 
oxidation appears to be sufficient to account for 
animal heat, and hence we may view the animal 
frame as an apparatus of combustion, in which 
the organized and organic substances generated 
by plants are burned and converted into simpler 
forms of matter, carbonic acid, water, &c. 
To supply this combustion and the waste of 
the animal body, the organic materials of food 
enter into the system by simple absorption, ani- 
mals merely assimilating without organizing 
them. 
Muider and others that fibrin, albumen, and 
casein have the same composition, whether ob- 
tained from vegetables or animals, whence Liebig 
draws the conclusion that animals do not organize 
them, but draw them ready formed from plants, 
the herbivorous receiving them directly, carni- 
vorous animals indirectly. 
The minutize of the operations ef respiration, 
digestion, and the various animal functions are 
still subjects of speculation aid research, nor is 
it desirable in a practical work to enter on this 
field until it shall have been more fully explored. 
Dumas, Boussingault, and others maintain that 
the fatty matters are not organized by the ani- 
mal, but received ready formed from plants; 
while Liebig holds that they are due to the me- 
tamorphosis of amylaceous and other portions of 
food within the animal frame. 
Certain it is that a path of research has been 
opened by the surprising discoveries in Organic 
chemistry, which bids fair to unfold many of the 
It has been shown by the analyses of | 
ANIMAL FLOWER. 
hitherto concealed operations in the complex 
system of animals, which were formerly referred 
to the indefinite action of vitality, and promises 
a clearer view of the cause and state of disease, 
with a more certain application of remedies on 
sound chemical principles. For farther details, 
refer to Ruspiration and DicEsrion ; to the sub- 
stances, ALBUMEN, Casein, Frerin, Guuten, Le- 
G@UMIN, and Prorzrn; and farther, to the articles 
Bitz, Bioop, Cuyuz, Fat, Urine, &e. 
ANIMAL FLOWER. A genus of marine ani- 
mals, systematically called Actinia, belonging to 
the order Mollusca, and class Vermes of Linnzeus. 
In the classification of Cuvier and Dumeril, the 
actinia rank among the zoophytes. Many spe- 
cies of these animals are extremely beautiful, 
both from the vivid and variegated colours, red, 
green, yellow, blue, and orange, which distinguish 
them, and also from the delicacy and elegance of 
their figure. From the external appearance of 
the actinia, and also the property of contracting 
itself, and unfolding the numerous tentacula sur- 
rounding the mouth, it has derived its name. 
Most of the species with which we are acquainted 
are of a cylindrical figure; but a few are funnel or 
trumpet-shaped, or like a fig, and some approach 
more to an angular form. See Plate X. These 
animals are found firmly attached by the base to 
rocks within the flowing of the sea, or stonesamong 
the sand. Several species dwell in the holes or 
cavities of the rocks, displaying themselves fully 
when the tide reaches them, but suddenly re- 
treating on the approach of danger, and closing 
themselves firmly up when the sea recedes. Their 
adhesion is so strong, that they may be torn 
asunder before they voluntarily separate from 
these various substances. Their size is extremely 
various, from the misilla, which is about the size 
of a large pea, and is said to be the principal 
food of the whales in the north seas, to others 
which are six or seven inches, and even more, in 
diameter. Full grown Actiniz are susceptible of 
an extraordinary degree of inflation, though the 
real substance composing their body is very small 
in quantity: a noose being cast over the body. of | 
a large one, and pulled tight, the animal con- 
trived to withdraw itself, and left the circle only 
six linesin diameter. Its body consists of a thin 
hollow membrane, which may be blown up like a 
bladder, and the air thus blown in by the mouth 
distends the tentacula. The great inflation of 
the animal apparently depends solely’on the 
quantity of water imbibed; no two are found of 
equal size, probably on that account; and, from 
what we have observed, we apprehend that the 
growth of the animal is extremely slow. 
The actinic are remarkably voracious: one of 
them will devour a substance half as large as 
itself, the body being then distended far over the 
base. Their food consists of fish, crabs, muscles, 
and other marine animals: and they also greedily 
swallow flesh, which, after a considerable inter- 
val, is rejected in a mass of an ovoidal figure. 
