But first, let me say in what sense I have used the words "organic
nature." In speaking of the causes which lead to our present knowledge
of organic nature, I have used it almost as an equivalent of the word
"living," and for this reason,--that in almost all living beings you
can distinguish several distinct portions set apart to do particular
things and work in a particular way. These are termed "organs," and
the whole together is called "organic." And as it is universally
characteristic of them, this term "organic" has been very conveniently
employed to denote the whole of living nature,--the whole of the plant
world, and the whole of the animal world.
Few animals can be more familiar to you than that whose skeleton is
shown on our diagram. You need not bother yourselves with this "Equus
caballus" written under it; that is only the Latin name of it, and does
not make it any better. It simply means the common Horse. Suppose we
wish to understand all about the Horse. Our first object must be to
study the structure of the animal.
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