THE LIFE OF MATTER.
Summary: Chap. I. Universal life—Opinions of philosophers
and poets—Continuity between brute and living bodies—Origin
of this principle.—Chap. II. Origin of brute matter
in living matter.—Chap. III. Organization and chemical
composition of brute and living bodies.—Chap. IV. Evolution
and transformation of brute and living bodies.—Chap.
V. Possession of a specific form—Living bodies and
crystals—Cicatrization.—Chap. VI. Nutrition in the living
body and in the crystal.—Chap. VII. Generation in brute
and in living bodies—Spontaneous generation.
Apparent Differences between Living and Brute Bodies. The Two Kingdoms.—It seems at first impossible that there should be any essential similarity between an inanimate object and a living being. What resemblance can be discovered between a stone, a lion, and an oak? A comparison of the inert and immovable pebble with the leaping animal, and with the plant extending its foliage gives an impression of vivid contrast. Between the organic and the inorganic worlds there seems to be an abyss. The first impressions we receive confirm this view; superficial investigation furnishes arguments for it. There is thus aroused in the mind of the child, and later in that of the man, a sharply marked distinction between the natural objects of the mineral kingdom on the one hand, and those of the two kingdoms of living beings on the other.
