Excerpt from Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate Animals: Delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons Organised beings difl'er so much more from the unorganised than they do from each other, that the co-equality of the three Linnaean kingdoms of nature is no longer admitted, and the primary division of natural bodies is into organic and inorganic, the former being collectively designated organisms. For the distinction of these into two kingdoms, moreover, the Linnaean diagnosis no longer suffices. Nothing seems easier than to distinguish a plant from an animal, and in common practice as regards the more obvious members of both king doms no distinction is easier; yet as the knowledge of their nature has advanced the difficulty of defining them has increased, and seems now to be insuperable. Not that the lack of such power of definition is any loss to the Naturalist, if he has gained, instead, a truer conception of the fundamental unity of all organic nature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.