The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware.

  • Smellie, William, 1740-1795.
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    single principle which would admit of a short, plain, and specific definition. Such a principle can be only ideal. It does not exist even with regard to the mineral and living classes of substances. It would not be difficult to confound the boundaries of living and dead matter, in the same way as those of vegetable and animal matter. The distinction must be sought in the general structure, the general mode of existence, and the purposes of existence in the two. And in a few words we may say, that ani- mals differ from plants in being furnished with internal organs for the purpose of digesting food, instead of absorbing it by roots from the earth ; in being furnished with organs which render them capable of moving from place to place, or at least of moving one part of their bodies on some other part; in having powers of sen- sation, perception, and volition, by which they acquire a knowl- edge of the existence and qualities of other bodies besides them- selves, and form some sort of relation or connexion with them ; and in being obviously intended, by the possession of these organs and powers, to be conscious of and to enjoy existence. CHAPTER II. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE STRUCTURE OF VEGETABLES. In considering plants and animals with a view to the descrip- tion of their structure and organs, there is one remarkable cir- cumstance worthy of attention at first, viz. that—while the animal kingdom exhibits a great variety between different classes in re- spect to the perfection, completeness, and complexity of their structure, and the number of their functions ; so that a regular series is formed, ascending from the lowest and most imperfect worm possessed of no faculties but those of feeling and moving, up to quadrupeds with all their wonderful and varied powers— the vegetable kingdom on the contrary exhibits but little of this sort of variety. Plants are nearly all alike with regard to the organs they possess and the functions they perform. On the one hand, the polype and the elephant, do not differ from each other more in size, than they do in the number and complexity of their organs, and the extent and perfection of their powers and func- tions. Whilst, on the other hand, the humblest moss is scarcely less perfect, less complicated, or possessed of less extensive