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PLANT LIFE, ANIMAL LIFE, AND MINERALS.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tun variety and luxuriance of life found on the surface of the earth are far greater than is at
first apparent. Besides the larger species of animals and plants, myriads of microscopic forms inhabit
the land, the water, and the air. From the burning sands of tropical deserts, to the eternal snows of
the poles, widely differing forms occur, each being peculiarly fitted for its own conditions of growth.

An organic form differs in many respects from one that is inorganic. The animal or plant has its
origin in a germ; grows from nourishment taken into its structure; has a regular development in
growth, passing, by successive stages, from birth to maturity, when it reproduces its kind, and passes on
to decay and death.

A crystal, which may be taken as the type of the inorganic world, grows by additions from without,
does not reproduce its kind, has no regular development or growth, being perfect from its first existence,
and has no decay or death.

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SECTION l..
PLANT LIFE.

—059200——_
CHAPTER I. cells, or approximately spherical masses, consist-
; ing of a peculiar form of jelly-like matter called
Plant Geography. protoplasm, composed of various complex combi-

nations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulphur,
811. Living Matter—AlIl life, whether vege- called proteids. At its beginning all life-consists

table or animal, consists of various groupings of of a minute germ cell, filled with more or less
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