ABSTRACT
There may be many ways to divide nature. One way is to divide it according to being alive, that is, self-replicating and the ability to be dead, and nonliving such as our rocks and sand. Again, we have two further main divisions-plant and animal. In this, and the following chapter, we will deal with materials that are alive or once were alive. With the exception of lignin, the general chemical groups that constitute animals and plants are the same on the macrolevel. Both base their ability to replicate on nucleic acids that form genes containing the blueprint for their life. But the two classications do differ in the major building material. Animals have as their basic building material proteins, while plants have as their basic building material polysaccharides. All of the basic building and genetic materials are polymeric.
