Volume 1

A history of the earth, and animated nature / By Oliver Goldsmith. With an introductory view of the animal kingdom, tr. from the French by Baron Cuvier. And copious notes embracing accounts of new discoveries in natural history: And a life of the author by Washington Irving. And a carefully prepared index to the whole work.

  • Oliver Goldsmith
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of the earth, and animated nature / By Oliver Goldsmith. With an introductory view of the animal kingdom, tr. from the French by Baron Cuvier. And copious notes embracing accounts of new discoveries in natural history: And a life of the author by Washington Irving. And a carefully prepared index to the whole work. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SECT. II.—OF LIVING BEINGS, AND OF ORGANIZATION IN GENERAL. Life—Its definition—Death—Organization—Generation—Spontaneous Generation—Reproduction— Species—Varieties—Permanence of Species—Pre-existence of Germs. Life, being the most important of all the properties of created existence, stands first in the scale of characters. It has always been considered the most general principle of division; and, by universal consent, natural objects have been arranged into two immense divisions, organic beings [comprising animals and plants], and inorganic beings [comprising minerals]. The word Life is used under two significations which are often confounded. It may be applied merely as a general term to express, with brevity, the various phenomena peculiar to living beings; or it may signify the cause of these phenomena. It is in the latter sense that the terms vital prin^ ciple, or principle of life, are employed; being, in this respect, perfectly analogous to the terms gravity, heat, attraction, and electricity, which are used in the general sciences under a twofold signification,—the one physical,—the other metaphysical. But, it is with the phenomena alone, or the physical sense of these terms, that Natural Philosophy has any concern. The knowledge of causes is removed far beyond the reach of human reason; and, by neglecting to discriminate be- tween these two senses, ancient philosophers before Lord Bacon, and too many modern ones since his time, have fallen into endless discussions, and obscured the light of real science. Yet, it is difficult, upon a subject so interesting as life, in which we all feel deeply concerned, to restrain curiosity within the bounds of reason and philosophy. A recent anonymous writer asks, “ Who has not put to himself the question, ‘ What is life 1 ’ Who would not receive a clear and just solution of the inquiry, with a feeling of interest, far beyond that afforded by the successful result of any ordinary scientific investigation? We can comprehend part of the mechanism by which life acts ; we feel itg result. We see that mechanism to be so delicate, so complicated, so fragile, so easily set wrong, while our interest is so deep that it should act well, and permanently well, that the exqui- siteness of adjustment, the skill of contrivance, and the completeness with which the intended result is secured—all subjects of distinct and interesting investigation—only increase the earnest- ness of our wish, that we could see beyond the mechanism, and understand that, which it is permitted us to know only by examining its phenomena. “We do not commonly consider how much is given us in life,—^the daily enjoyment of the boon renders us insensible to the variety and plenitude of its richness. We shall become more sensible of it upon contemplating the various tissues of organic particles that have been formed; the num- ber of properties that are attached to each; the number of organs that are constituted by their aggregation and arrangement; the number of functions that are exercised by those organs; and the number of adjustments by which all are combined, harmonized, and made effectual to the pro- duction of one grand result. It is then we perceive how many things must exist, how many rela- tions must be established, how many actions must be performed, how many combinations of actions must be secured, before there can be sensation and motion, thought and happiness.” Many attempts have been made to account for the vital principle, but hitherto all these have proved abortive. It is possible, that various functions of the animal frame may hereafter be dis- covered to proceed from mechanical or from chemical laws; but, we believe, that the ultimate springs of the phenomena of life will ever remain concealed from human knowledge. In order to form a just idea of the essential conditions of life, we must first examine those beings which are the most simple in the scale of creation; and we shall readily perceive that these vital conditions consist, in a power possessed by certain bodies, for a period of time only, of existing in a determinate form; of continually drawing into their composition a part of the surrounding substances; and of returning back, to the influence of the general laws of matter, certain portions of their own materials. These phenomena are exhibited by the conferva rimdaris, a small bundle of green filaments, finer than hair, found in rivulets and stagnant pools. Being without root or leaves, it is simply attached by a broad surface to the margin of the water. While life exists, it increases in size and weight, throws out filaments like branches, assimilates the particles of water, and of other inorganic sub- stances around it, into vegetable matter, and lays them down in an oblong cellular form. In ani- mals and plants, nutrition is the effect of an internal power; their growth is a development from within. In minerals, on the contrary, growth goes on by the external deposition of successive strata or layers; whilst organized bodies, by means of their vital power, grow and increase by the