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Untitled Article
There are , ' therefore , two kinds of life ; one possessed by the vegetable , and sufficient to it ; the other possessed by the animal in addition to the former . These two lives are independent of each other , and have no necessary connexion . The actions of the first kind of life are called organic ; those of the second are called animal . The plant performs only organic actions ; the animal performs both organic and animal actions .
Both the organic and animal actions are carried on by means of instruments of definite structure and form called organs , and the action of an organ is called its function .
' The leaf of the plant is an organ . The conversion of sap by the leaf into the proper juice of the plant by the process called respiration is the function of this organ . The brain is an organ , and the sentient nerve in communication with the brain is also an organ . The extremity of a sentient nerve receives an impression from an external
object , and conveys it to the brain , where it becomes a sensation . The transmission of the impression is the function of the nerve , and the conversion of the impression into a sensation is the function of the brain . * The function of every organ is called into operation by means of some agent external to the body . The external agents capable of exciting and maintaining the functions of living organs consist of a definite class .
They are air , water , heat , cold , electricity , and light , and are called physical agents . No vital process can go on without them , and the living organ and the physical agent act and re-act upon
each other , producing on both sides definite changes . * It is this determinate interchange of action between the living organ and the physical agent that constitutes what is termed a vital process ^ All vital processes are either processes of supply or processes of waste . By every vital action performed by the body some portion of its constituent matter is expended . Vital actions are incessantly
earned on for the sole purpose of compensating this expenditure . Every moment old particles are carried out of the system ; every moment new particles are introduced into it . The matter of which the body is composed is thus in a state of perpetual flux . In a certain space of time it is completely changed ; so that , of all the matter that constitutes the body at a given point of time , not a single particle remains at another point of time at a given distance /
Another distinction between the two classes of living beings is then pointed out . It is , that the plant requires , to compensate its expenditure , only a due supply of the physical agents , which , while they afford the requisite stimuli to its vital actions , constitute its food ; while the animal must have , in addition , organized matter in some form or other . The plant is able to convert inorganic into organic matter , and thus it saves . the animal one process ; it purveys and prepares its food . The inferior life is spent in ministering to the wants of the superior . A clear aad most interesting view is then taken of the progress K 2
Untitled Article
Function * of ike AnifhcU Economy . 51
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 51, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/51/
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