Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1859-01-25
Physiological Letters--yo. III.

In our last sketch we considered some of the
doctrines OF Life. We may now add that, SO
far as our experience goes, there is no mcguire
cal exception to the rule that all life Is from an
egg, in..othsr words, that every living organism
with which We ase acquainted derived its ex-
istencc from same previously existing organism.
(paren',1 having specific characters similar to,
OF identical with, it, own.
But, il may be asked, how did the first
germ originate OF was there no beginning of or
ganic life ?" etc To answer such questions
would involve the doctrine Of Final Causes, vita
which SCIENCE has nothing to do, and would
take US into regions where the rigid tests of ex-
perience cannot be applied. We, therefore
avoid the Development Hypothesis, and other
speculatIols, touching the ultimate origin OF
Life, and coufine ourselves to the domain OF SCI
ence.
One word, however, about the terms Caase
and Effect Having dismissed Final or Efficient
Causes As not falling legitimately within the
pale Of scientific inquiry, let US settle the sci
entific Specification Of the term Cause We IN
derstaad lhe term to mean that antecedent, or
those concurrent antecedents, which invariably
ana Internationally precede any phenomenon,
aud which Is necessary consequence (EJeetJ
OF such Cause.
To-day we may inquire into some OF the
points Of distinction between plants and ami
mails but 50 nearly do some Of the humblest
individuals Of each kingdom approach the 9TH
er in their specific characters, that to indicate
clearly the precise boundary between the AMI
l 81 Ar.,-a.abIa Einrtiorps i n matter Of the
utmost difficulty.
Both animals and plants exhibit numerous
processes BY which the individuals grow, prop
agate their kind, and die both have a nutri-
tive circulating fluid - plants. called sap, In
animals, blood = and in both process of absorb
sion prcccdes the full Development of the nutri-
tive fluid BY means Of which they grow. But
in plants the materials of their growth, their
food-water charged with carbonic acid, ammo
MIA and various mineral substances-s derived
exclusively from the inorganic kingdom; it ex-
ists exterior to the plant; already prepared IN
the soil and IS absorbed by the spongioles of
the root unchanged IN It's passage in animals,
however, the food, consisting Of vegetable pro-
ducts, undergoes more or less change in its
preparation in fact is dgostod before it IS fitted
to nourish the body. This fact affords one OF
the most striking points of distinction between
them because 1t connotes another important
fact, that there must also be something where
with ana wherein the food may be digested;
and this something all animals have in what is
called a stomach. No plant has a true stomach,
although there are a few apparent but not real,
EXCEPTIONS Indeed, the nature of the food suit
u. Il. -.
for a stomach in the former, and calls for one,
in the latter for, as already stated, the food Of
plants Is derived directly from Inorganic matter,
aud is absorbed without any semblance of di-
gestion ; whereas, in animals, thei: food needs
to be digested before 1t can be assimilated.
Thus, plants, live only by assinilatiug inor
ganic matter and all animal life is support
ed at the expense Of the Vegetable Kingdom !;
and the fact that some animals are entirely car
uiyorous is no real exception to this statement,
4 because the animals upon which they prey must
subsist on plants derive their nourishment
/ from vegetable products.
Atmospheric air IS necessary to the existence
of all organized being and 10y the law of the
diffusion Of gases, a certain kind of nutriment
is supplied TO plants and noxious cxhalations are
removed from animals, through It's agency; but
of this We shall have occasion to speak more at
length, by-and-by.
Light Is another Important agency IN the de-
yelopemcnt Of the pher alneua Of life BY day,
plants exhale oxygen gas and absorb carbonic
acid By night, these processes are reversed ;
bat plants exhale only small portion of the
carbonic acid they absorb. The carbon of the
acid being mostly assimilated, and the oxygen
of the acid being thrown off as efFete matter
by the plant, notice kind of equilibrium
established between the two Organic King
dolns. Plants find nutriruent in the eiTete mat
lers Of animals, and il tuFh supply the latter
with the effete product oxygen. which is the
vivifying principle Of the ar we breathe.
/ The numerous and varied motions, actions,
/ processes. or phenomena, exhibited by living be-
ings, are called functions. Those directed to the
preservation Of the species are termed genera
tive, and those to the preservation Of the indi-
vidual. the nutritive functions.-Both classes of
4 functions being common to a. organized beings,
may be termed orgahic.-Those functions exhib-
tied by animals only, and being peculiar to. and
characteristic o. them, may well be called AMI
ma! functions
/ In animals a all elevated in the scale Of or
ganization. no doubt could arise as to the King
/ dom Of Nature to which any individual belongs
for the possession Of a nervous system settles
/ the matter beyond question, plant having
anything analogous 70 the nervous system. No
! plant ever thinks orfsels.
Starvation Picture presented in the City of BeIot.