and plants has been compared to that of crystals. Transitions or intergradations have been sought between the rigid and faceted architecture of the latter and the flexible structure and curved surface of the former; the utricular form of flowers of sulphur on the one hand, and the geometrical structure of the shells of radiolarians on the other, have shown an exchange of typical forms between the two systems. An effort has even been made to draw a parallel between six of the principal types of the animal kingdom and the six crystalline systems. If carried as far as this, our thesis becomes puerile. Real analogies will suffice. Among these the curious facts of crystalline renewal come first.
§ 2. Cicatrization in Living Beings and in
Crystals.
We know that living beings not only possess a typical architecture which they have themselves constructed, but that they defend it against destructive agencies, and that if need arise they repair it. The living organism cicatrizes its wounds, repairs losses of substance, regenerates more or less perfectly the parts that have been removed; in other terms, when it has been mutilated it tends to reconstruct itself according to the laws of its own morphology. This phenomenon of reconstitution or reintegration, these more or less successful efforts to re-establish its form and its integrity, at first appear to be a characteristic feature of living beings. This is not the case.
Mutilation and Re-integration of Crystals.—Crystals—let us say crystalline individuals—show a
