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Untitled Article
of organization from its most simple to its most complex state , and of the reasons why it becomes complex . We all see that , between the structure of the simple plant and that of the highlyorganized animal , there is a wide difference , but we have not ,
perhaps , reflected that this difference is not arbitrary , but that the more complex organization is given because the number , the superiority , the relation , the range and the energy of the functions performed by the animal require his complex structure , while to the other , its simple structure is sufficient for its few and simple functions .
The animal must have more organs than the plant , because it has two sets of actions to carry on , the organic and the animal ; while the plant has but one set , the organic . Some functions performed by the animal are of a higher order than any performed by the plant , and a superior function requires a higher organization ; the instrument is elaborately prepared in proportion to the nobleness of its office .
It is necessary to establish a relation between function and function , so that the addition of one of a superior order requires a corresponding elevation of structure in all the rest . This was admirably illustrated by a view of the organic function of nutrition as performed by the plant and by the animal . In the plant it is performed by absorption , by means of minute organs called
spongeoles fixed to the capillary branches of the root , which imbibe the moisture from the soil , and with which are connected vessels which convey the crude aliment to the leaf where it is converted by the air into proper nutriment , and then , by other vessels , carried out to supply every part with the nutriment it needs . This is all the apparatus of nutrition required by the plant , because jt
is fixed in the soil , and its spongeoles are always in contact with its food . But to the organic function of nutrition add the animal one of locomotion , and what follows ? So simple a structure will no longer suffice . In proportion as the animal exercised its superior faculty it must interrupt its inferior . It must have a reservoir to contain its food within its body , and this
modification of structure is uniformly adopted throughout the animal creation . Till very lately , it was supposed not to exist in the beings at the bottom of the animal scale called animalcules or infusoria . Some most curious discoveries were detailed by Dr . Smith relative to these creatures , which are only made visible to human eyes by the microscope , but which by its aid are found to exist by
myriads in stagnant water whether salt or fresh , or in water in which animal or vegetable matter has been allowed to macerate . These discoveries have established the fact ( hat they form no exception to the mode of structure proper to animals . Their bodies are transparent and colourless , and , to all appearance , in the smallest tribes at least , homogeneous , so that it was supposed that they imbibed their nourishment like plants ; that , in short , they were one
Untitled Article
52 Dr . Southtoood Smith on the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 52, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/52/
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