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§ 1. Specific form and chemical constitution—The wide distribution of crystalline forms—Organization of crystals—Law of relation between specific form and chemical constitution—Value of form as a characteristic of brute and living beings—Parentage, living beings and mineral parentage—Iso-morphism and the faculty of cross-breeding—Other analogies. § 2. Acquisition and re-establishment of the specific form—Mutilation and regeneration of crystals—Mechanism of reparation.

§ 1. Specific Form and Chemical Constitution.—In the enumeration which we have made of the essential features of vitality there are three that are, so to speak, of the highest value. They are, in the order of their importance:—The possession of a specific form; the faculty of growth or nutrition; and finally, the faculty of reproduction by generation. By restricting our comparison between brute bodies and living bodies to these truly fundamental characters we sensibly restrict the field, but we shall see that it does not disappear.

Wide Distribution of Crystalline Forms.—The consideration of specific forms shows us that in the mineral world we need only consider crystallized bodies, as they are almost the only ones that possess definite form. In restricting ourselves to this category we do not limit our field as much as might be sup