Let it not be imagined that this view has any tendency to materialism. The vital energy is regarded as a spiritualization, and reason as a divine emanation; but they are connected with materialities, on which they act, and by which they are themselves controlled. The organic combinations, and the physical powers by which these unions of matter are effected and retained, have a direct action over that ethereality which is life, and the powers of life again control these more material forces. The spirit, in whatever state, when connected with matter, is, like Prometheus chained to his rock, in a constant struggle to escape from its shackles, and assert the full power of its divine strength. We have seen variety enough in the substances which make up the inorganic part of creation; but infinitely more varied are the forms of organization. In the vegetable world which is immediately around us, from the green slime of our marshes to the lustrous flowers of our gardens and the lordly trees of our forests, what an extraordinary diversity of form is apparent! From the infusoria of an hour, to the gigantic elephant roaming in his greatness in the forests of Siam--the noble lion of the caves of Senegal--the mighty condor of the Andes--and onward to man, the monarch of them all, how vast are the differences, and yet how complete are they in their respective conditions! In the creation we have examined, we have had conclusive evidence, that from the combination of _atoms_ every peculiar form has been produced. In the creation we are about to examine, we shall discover that all the immense diversity of form, of colour, and condition which is spread over the world in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, results from the combination of _cells_. The atom of inorganic nature becomes a cell in organic creation. This cell must be regarded as the compound radical of the chemist, and by decomposing it, we destroy the essential element of organization. With the mysterious process by which the atom is converted into a cell, or a compound radical, we are unacquainted; but we must regard the cell as the organic atom. It is in vain that the chemist or the physiologist attempts to examine this change of the inorganic elements to an organized state; it is one of the mysteries of creation, which is to be, in all probability, hid from our eyes, until this “mortal coil” is shaken off, and we enjoy the full powers of that intelligence which we are promised we shall enjoy in an immortal state. Again and again has the attention of men been attracted to the _generatio æquivoca_; they have sometimes thought they have discovered a _generatio primitiva_ or _spontanea_; but a more careful examination of these organisms has shown that an embryo existed--a real germination has taken place.