99,hints ,towards the ,formation of a   
,more ,comprehensive ,theory ,of ,life99
                               99by ,s4 
,t4 ,coleridge99                        
99,edited by ,seth ,b4 ,watson1 ,m4,d499
                              ,of ,st4  
,john's ,college1           ,and        
,formerly ,one of the ,physicians to the
 ,hospital at ,oxford           ,magna  
sunt opera ,domini exquisita in omnes   
voluntates ejus4                        
,london3 ,john ,churchill1 ,princes     
,street1 ,soho                          
,,mdcccxlviii4                 99,c4 and
 ,j4 ,adlard1 ,printers1 ,bartholomew   
,close99            ,,contents          
,preface4  ,physiology ,of ,life4  ,the 
,nature ,of ,life4  ,advertisements4    
,footnotes              ,,advertisement4
      ,the ,editor takes this           
opportunity of returning his best       
acknowledgments to  ,sir ,,john         
,,stoddart1 ,,ll4,d41 to the ,rev4      
,,james ,,gillman1 ,incumbent of        
,trinity1  ,lambeth1 and to ,,henry     

,,lee1 ,esq41 ,assistant ,surgeon to    
,king's ,college  ,hospital1 for their  
great kindness1 in regard to this       
publication4    #af1 ,norfolk ,street1  
,park ,lane4            ,,preface4      
,the accompanying pages contain the     
unfinished ,sketch of a ,theory of ,life
  by ,s4 ,t4 ,coleridge4 ,everything    
that fell from the pen of that          
extraordinary man bore latent1 as well  
as more obvious indications of  genius1 
and of its inseparable                  
concomitant--originality4 ,to this      
general  remark the present ,essay is   
far from forming an exception4 ,no one  
can  peruse it1 without admiring the    
author's comprehensive research and     
profound meditation2 but at the same    
time1 partly from the exuberance of  his
 imagination1 and partly from an        
apparent want of method 7though1 in     
truth1 he had a method of his own1 by   
which he marshalled his thoughts in  an 
order perfectly intelligible to         
himself71 a first perusal will1 to many 

readers1 prove unsatisfactory1 unless   
they are prepared for it by an          
introduction of a more popular          
character4 ,this purpose1 therefore1 ,i 
shall  endeavour to accomplish2 it being
 to be understood that ,i by no means   
make  myself responsible either for ,mr4
 ,coleridge's speculations1 or for the  
manner in which they are enunciated2 and
 that1 on the contrary1 ,i shall        
occasionally indicate views from which  
,i dissent1 and expressions which       
perhaps the author himself1 on revision1
 would have seen reason to  correct4    
,it is clear that ,mr4 ,coleridge       
considers the unity of human nature to  
result from two combined elements1 ,body
 and ,soul2 that he regards the  latter 
as the principle of ,reason and of      
,conscience 7both which he has  largely 
treated in his published works71 and    
that the 8,life10 which he  here        
investigates1 concerns1 in relation to  
mankind1 only the ,body4 ,he is  far1   
however1 from confining the term 8,life0

 to its action on the human  body2 on   
the contrary1 he disclaims the division 
of all that surrounds us  into things   
with life1 and things without life2 and 
contends1 that the  term ,life is no    
less applicable to the irreducible bases
 of chemistry1  such as sodium1         
potassium1 c41 or to the various forms  
of crystals1 or  the geological strata  
which compose the crust of our globe1   
than it is to  the human body itself1   
the acme and perfection of animal       
organization4 ,i  admit that there are  
certain great powers1 such as magnetism1
 electricity1  and chemistry1 whose     
action may be traced1 even by the       
limited means which  science at present 
possesses1 in admirable gradation1 from 
purely  unorganized to the most highly  
organized matter3 and1 ,i think1 that   
,mr4  ,coleridge has done this with     
great ingenuity and striking effect2 but
 what  ,i object to is1 that he applies 
to the combined operation of these      
powers1  in all cases1 the term ,life4  

,if we look back to the early history of
  language1 we shall probably find that 
this word1 and its synonymes in  other  
tongues1 were first employed to denote  
human life1 that is1 the  duration of a 
human being's existence from birth to   
the grave4 ,as this  existence was      
marked by actions1 many of which were   
common to man with  other animals1 those
 animals also were said to 8live20 but  
the extension  of the notion of ,life to
 the vegetable creation is comparatively
 a recent  usage1--and hitherto 7in this
 country at least7 no writer before ,mr4
  ,coleridge1 so far as ,i know1 has    
maintained that rocks and mountains1    
nay1  8the great globe itself10 share   
with mankind the gift of ,life4 ,on the 
other hand1 there are well known and    
energetic uses of the word 8,life10 to  
which ,mr4 ,coleridge's speculations1 as
 contained in the accompanying  pages1  
are wholly inapplicable4 ,almost all    
nations1 even the most savage1  agree in
 the belief that individuals of the     

human race1 after they have  ceased to  
exist in this mortal life1 will exist in
 another state1 to which  also the word 
,life is universally applied2 but to    
this latter ,mr4  ,coleridge's views of 
magnetism1 electricity1 c41 can hardly  
be thought  applicable4 ,still less can 
they apply to 8,life0 in its spiritual  
sense2  as1 when ,moses says to the     
,jews1 8the words of the law are your   
life10  7,deut4 xxxii1 #dg17 and when   
our ,saviour says1 8the words that ,i   
speak unto  you1 they are spirit1 and   
they are life20 7,john1 vi1 #fc27 and   
again1 8,i  am the resurrection and the 
life10 7,john1 xi1 #be47 ,upon the      
whole1  therefore1 ,i think it would    
have been advisable in ,mr4 ,coleridge  
to have  adopted a different            
phraseology1 in tracing the operation of
 certain  natural agencies first on     
unorganized1 and then on organized      
bodies4    ,another word1 of which ,i   
consider an improper use to be made in  
this  ,essay1 is 8,nature40 ,i find this

 imaginary being introduced on all      
occasions1 and invested with attributes 
of personality1 which may be  extremely 
apt to make a false impression on young 
or thoughtless minds4 ,at  one time1    
8the life of ,nature0 is spoken of2 then
 we are informed that  8,nature has     
succeeded4 ,she has created the         
intermediate link between the  vegetable
 world and the animal40 ,again1 it is   
said that 8,nature seems to  fall back1 
and to reexert herself on the lower     
ground1 which she had  before           
occupied20--and elsewhere we are told   
that 8,nature never loses what  she has 
once learnt2 though in the acquirement  
of each new power she  intermits or     
performs less energetically the act     
immediately preceding4  ,she often drops
 a faculty1 but never fails to pick it  
up again4 ,she  may seem forgetful and  
absent2 but it is only to recollect     
herself with  additional as well as     
recruited vigour in some after and      
higher state40  ,now the word 8,nature10

 in any intelligible sense1 means       
nothing but that  method and order by   
which the ,almighty regulates the common
 course of  things4 ,nature is not a    
person2 it is not active2 it neither    
creates nor  performs actions more or   
less energetically1 nor learns1 nor     
forgets1 nor  reexerts itself1 nor      
recruits its vigour4 ,perhaps it will be
 said that all  this is merely          
figurative language4 ,figurative        
language is very much  misplaced in     
strict philosophical investigations2 and
 these particular  figures1 which might 
be quite consistent with the atheistical
 philosophy  of ,lucretius1 sound ill in
 the mouth of a pious ,christian1 which 
,mr4  ,coleridge undoubtedly was4 ,he   
probably adopted them unconsciously from
  ,bacon2 but ,bacon's use of the word  
,nature ought rather to have served as a
  warning than an example2 for it has   
contributed1 in no small degree1 to  the
 atheistical philosophy of recent times4
    ,the prevalent natural philosophy of

 the present day is that which is       
called corpuscular1 because it assumes  
the existence of a first matter1        
consisting of corpuscula or atoms1 which
 are supposed to be definite1  though   
extremely small1 quantities1 invested   
with the qualities of  extension1       
impenetrability1 and the like2 and from 
certain combinations of  these          
qualities1 ,life is considered1 by some 
persons1 to be a necessary  result4     
,this philosophy ,mr4 ,coleridge        
combats4 ,the supposed atoms1 he  says1 
are mere abstractions of the mind2 and  
,life is not a thing1 the  result of    
atomic arrangement or action1 but is    
itself an act1 or process4  ,he refutes 
various definitions of ,life1 such as1  
that it is the sum of all  the functions
 by which death is resisted2 or1 that it
 depends on the  faculty of nutrition1  
or of anti-putrescence4 ,his own        
definition he  proposes merely as an    
hypothesis4 ,life1 he says1 is 8the     
principle of  ,individuation10 that is  

to say1 it is a power which discloses   
itself from  within1 combining many     
qualities into one individual thing4    
,this  individualising principle unites1
 as he conceives1 with the cooperating  
action of magnetism1 electricity1 and   
chemistry4 ,at least1 such is the       
inference to be drawn from the present  
state of science2 though it is  easily  
conceivable that future discoveries may 
bring us acquainted with  powers more   
directly connected with ,life4 ,the most
 general law governing  the action of   
,life1 as a tendency to individuation1  
is here designated  polarity2 for       
instance1 the power termed magnetism    
7not meaning that  there is necessarily 
an actual tangible magnet in the case7  
has two poles1  the negative1 answering 
to attraction1 rest1 carbon1 c41 and the
  positive1 answering to repulsion1     
mobility1 azote1 c42 and as the         
magnetic needle which points to the     
north necessarily indicates thereby  the
 south1 so the power disposing to rest  

has necessarily a counteracting         
influence disposing to mobility1 between
 which lies the point of  indifference4 
,now this quality1 to which ,mr4        
,coleridge gives the name of  polarity1 
is in truth nothing more than an        
exemplification of the doctrine  of     
opposites1 the    1 which the ,eleatic  
,philosopher1 in ,plato's 8,sophist10   
applies to the idea of existence and    
non-existence1 and which accompanies    
every other idea as its shadow1  whether
 in physics1 in intellect1 or in morals2
 for the finite is opposed  to the      
infinite1 the false to the true1 the    
evil to the good1 and so  forth2 which  
we say1 not to derogate from the value  
of ,mr4 ,coleridge's  application of the
 doctrine1 of which he has very ably    
availed himself2  but merely to explain 
the term polarity1 by referring it1 as a
 species1 to  a higher genus of         
intellectual conceptions4    ,reverting 
to the three powers before mentioned1 it
 is not to be  understood1 that on ,mr4 

,coleridge's hypothesis of ,life1 they  
ever act  separately2 but in the        
different modifications of ,life1 at one
 time the  power of magnetism           
predominates1 at another that of        
electricity1 and at  another that of    
chemistry4 ,magnetism is stated to act  
as a line1  electricity as a surface1   
and chemistry as a solid2 for all which 
,mr4  ,coleridge refers to certain      
physical experiments4 ,the predominance 
of  magnetism is characterised by       
reproduction1 that of electricity by    
irritability2 and irritability1 which   
first appears as muscle1 gradually      
rises into sensibility as nerve4 ,the   
limits of a mere introduction will  not 
permit me to examine ,mr4 ,coleridge's  
first principles more in detail2  and ,i
 can but briefly notice their           
application to the successive stages of 
ascent1 from the first rudiments of     
individualised ,life1 in the lowest     
classes of the mineral1 vegetable1 and  
animal creation1 to its crown and       

consummation in the human body4         
,beginning with magnetism1 by which1 in 
its  widest sense1 he means what he     
improperly calls the first and simplest 
differential act of ,nature 7he should  
rather have said the first and  simplest
 conception that we can form of a       
differential act of ,god1 in the  work  
of creation71 he supposes the           
pre-existence of chaos1 not1 indeed1 in 
the ,miltonic sense--    8,for hot1     
cold1 moist1 and dry1 four champions    
fierce1  ,strive there for mast'ry1 and 
to battle bring  ,their embryon         
atoms1--0    but rather as one vast     
homogeneous fluid1 and even that he     
suggests not  as a historical fact1 but 
as the appropriate symbol of a great    
fundamental  truth4 ,the first effort of
 magnetic power1 the first step from    
indifference to difference1 from        
formless homogeneity to independent     
existence1 is seen in the tranquil      
deposition of crystals2 and an          
increasing tendency to difference is    

observable in the increasing  multitude 
of strata1 till we come to organic life2
 of which the vegetable  and animal     
worlds may be regarded as opposite      
poles2 carbon prevailing in  the former 
and azote in the latter2 and vegetation 
being characterised by  the predominance
 of magnetism in its highest power1 as  
reproduction2  whilst the animal tribes 
evince the power of electricity1 as     
shown in  irritability and sensibility4 
,passing over the forms of vegetation1  
we  come to the polypi1 corallines1 c41 
in which individuality appears in its   
first dawn2 for a multitude of animals  
form1 as it were1 a common animal1  and 
different genera pass into each other1  
almost indistinguishably4 ,the  tubipora
 of the corals connects with the serpula
 of the conchylia4 ,in the  mollusca the
 separation of organs becomes more      
observable2 in the higher  species there
 are rudiments of nerves1 and an        
exponent1 though scarcely               
distinguishable1 of sensibility4 ,in the

 snail1 and muscle1 the separation  of  
the fluid from the solid is more marked1
 yet the prevalence of the  carbonic    
principle connects these and the        
preceding classes1 in a certain  degree1
 with the vegetable creation4 8,but the 
insect world1 taken at  large 7says ,mr4
 ,coleridge7 appears as an intense      
,life1 that has  struggled itself loose1
 and become emancipated from            
vegetation--,flor  liberti1 et          
libertini60 ,in insects we first find   
the distinct  commencement of a         
separation between the muscular system1 
that is1 organs  of irritability1 and   
the nervous system1 that is1 organs of  
sensibility2  the former1 however1      
maintaining a pre-eminence throughout1  
and the nerves  themselves being        
probably subservient to the motory      
power4 ,with the fishes  begins an      
internal system of bones1 but these are 
the results of a  comparatively         
imperfect formation1 being in general   
little more than mere  gristle4 ,in     

birds we find a sort of synthesis of the
 powers of fish and  insects4 ,in all   
three1 the powers are under the         
predominance of  irritability2 but      
sensibility1 which is dormant in the    
insect1 begins to  awaken in the fish1  
and1 though still subordinate1 is quite 
awake in the  bird1 of which no better  
proof can be given than its power of    
sound1 with  the rudiments of           
modulation1 in the large class of       
singing birds1 and in  some others a    
tendency to acquire and to imitate      
articulate speech4 ,the  next step of   
ascent brings us to the mammalia2 and in
 these1 including  beasts and men1 the  
complete and universal presence of a    
nervous system  raises sensibility to   
its due place and rank among the animal 
powers4  ,finally1 in ,man the whole    
force of organic power attains an inward
 and  centripetal direction1 and the    
8apex of the living pyramid0becomes a   
fit  receptacle for ,reason and         
,conscience4                            

99 99 99 99 99    ,it is much to be     
regretted1 that the estimable ,author   
did not live to put  a finishing hand to
 this ,essay2 but the part completed    
involves  speculations of so interesting
 a nature1 and presents such striking   
marks  of deep and original thought1    
that the ,editor1 to whose hands it was 
committed1 did not feel himself         
justified in withholding it from the    
judgment of the public4                 
,,physiology ,,of ,,life4               
,introduction4      ,when we stand      
before the bust of ,john ,hunter1 or as 
we enter the  magnificent museum        
furnished by his labours1 and pass      
slowly1 with  meditative observation1   
through this august temple1 which the   
genius of  one great man has raised and 
dedicated to the wisdom and uniform     
working  of the ,creator1 we perceive at
 every step the guidance1 we had almost 
said1 the inspiration1 of those profound
 ideas concerning ,life1 which dawn     
upon us1 indeed1 through his written    

works1 but which he has here  presented 
to us in a more perfect language than   
that of words--the language  of ,god    
himself1 as uttered by ,nature4    ,that
 the true idea of ,life existed in the  
mind of ,john ,hunter ,i do not         
entertain the least doubt2 but it may1  
perhaps1 be doubted whether his         
incessant occupation1 and his stupendous
 industry in the service1 both of  his  
contemporaries and of posterity1 added  
to his comparatively slight             
acquaintance with the arts and aids of  
logical arrangement1 permitted him      
fully to unfold and arrange it in       
distinct1 clear1 and communicable       
conceptions4 ,assuredly1 however1 ,i    
may1 without incurring the charge of    
arrogance or detraction1 venture to     
assert that1 in his writings the light  
which occasionally flashes upon us seems
 at other times1 and more  frequently1  
to struggle through an unfriendly       
medium1 and even sometimes  to suffer a 
temporary occultation4 ,at least1 in    

order to dissipate the  undeniable      
obscurities1 and to reconcile the       
apparent contradictions found  in his   
works1--to distinguish1 in short1 the   
numerous passages in which  without1    
perhaps1 losing sight internally of his 
own peculiar belief1 he  yet falls into 
the phraseology and mechanical solutions
 of his age1--we  must distinguish such 
passages from those in which the form   
corresponds to  the substance1 and in   
which1 therefore1 the nature and        
essential laws of  vital action are     
expressed1 as far as his researches had 
unveiled them to  his own mind1 without 
disguise4 ,to effect this1 we must1 as  
it were1 climb  up on his shoulders1 and
 look at the same objects in a          
distincter form1  because seen from the 
more commanding point of view furnished 
by himself4  ,this has1 indeed1 been    
more than once attempted already1 and1  
in one  instance1 with so evident a     
display of power and insight as         
announces in  the assertor and          

vindicator of the ,hunterian ,theory a  
congenial intellect1  and a disciple in 
whom ,hunter himself would have exulted4
 ,would that this  attempt had been made
 on a larger scale1 that the writer to  
whom ,i  refer7#a7 had in consequence   
developed his opinions systematically1  
and  carried them yet further back1 even
 to their ultimate principle6    ,but   
this the scientific world has yet to    
expect2 or it is more than  probable    
that the present humble endeavour would 
have been superseded1 or  confined1 at  
least1 to the task of restating the     
opinion of my predecessor  with such    
modifications as the differences that   
will always exist between  men who have 
thought independently1 and each for     
himself1 have never  failed to          
introduce1 even on problems of far      
easier and more obvious  solution4      
,without further preface or apology1    
therefore1 ,i shall state at once my    
objections to all the definitions that  
have hitherto been given of ,life1  as  

meaning too much or too little1 with an 
exception1 however1 in favour  of those 
which mean nothing at all2 and even     
these last must1 in certain  cases1     
receive an honour they do not merit1 and
 be confuted1 or rather  detected1 on   
account of their too general acceptance1
 and the incalculable  power of words   
over the minds of men in proportion to  
the remoteness of  the subject from the 
cognizance of the senses4    ,it would  
be equally presumptuous and unreasonable
 should ,i1 with a late  writer on this 
subject1 8exhort the reader to be       
particularly on his guard  against loose
 and indefinite expressions20 but ,i    
perfectly agree that they  are the bane 
of all science1 and have been remarkably
 injurious in the  different departments
 of physiology4            ,,the        
,,nature ,,of ,,life4          ,on ,the 
,definitions ,of ,life ,hitherto        
,received4 ,hints ,towards ,a ,more     
,comprehensive ,theory4      ,the       
attempts to explain the nature of ,life1

 which have fallen within my  knowledge1
 presuppose the arbitrary division of   
all that surrounds us into  things with 
life1 and things without life--a        
division grounded on a mere  assumption4
 ,at the best1 it can be regarded only  
as a hasty deduction from  the first    
superficial notices of the objects that 
surround us1 sufficient1  perhaps1 for  
the purpose of ordinary discrimination1 
but far too  indeterminate and diffluent
 to be taken unexamined by the          
philosophic  inquirer4 ,the positions of
 science must be tried in the jeweller's
 scales1  not like the mixed commodities
 of the market1 on the weigh-bridge of  
common opinion and vulgar usage4 ,such1 
however1 has been the procedure in  the 
present instance1 and the result has    
been answerable to the coarseness  of   
the process4 ,by a comprisal of the     
petitio principii with the  argumentum  
in circulo1--in plain ,english1 by an   
easy logic1 which begins  with begging  
the question1 and then moving in a      

circle1 comes round to the  point where 
it began1--each of the two divisions has
 been made to define  the other by a    
mere reassertion of their assumed       
contrariety4 ,the  physiologist has     
luminously explained ,y plus ,x by      
informing us that it is  a somewhat that
 is the antithesis of ,y minus ,x2 and  
if we ask1 what then  is ,y-,x8 the     
answer is1 the antithesis of ,y,x1--a   
reciprocation of great  service1 that   
may remind us of the twin sisters in the
 fable of the ,lami1  with but one eye  
between them both1 which each borrowed  
from the other as  either happened to   
want it2 but with this additional       
disadvantage1 that in  the present case 
it is after all but an eye of glass4    
,the definitions  themselves will best  
illustrate our meaning4 ,i will begin   
with that given  by ,bichat4 8,life is  
the sum of all the functions by which   
death is  resisted10 in which ,i have in
 vain endeavoured to discover any other 
meaning than that life consists in being

 able to live4 ,this author1 with a     
whimsical gravity1 prefaces his         
definition with the remark1 that the    
nature of life has hitherto been sought 
for in abstract considerations2  as if  
it were possible that four more         
inveterate abstractions could be        
brought together in one sentence than   
are here assembled in the words1  life1 
death1 function1 and resistance4        
,similar instances might be cited  from 
,richerand and others4 ,the word ,life  
is translated into other more  learned  
words2 and this paraphrase of the term  
is substituted for the  definition of   
the thing1 and therefore 7as is always  
the case in every  real definition as   
contra-distinguished from a verbal      
definition17 for  at least a partial    
solution of the fact4 ,such as these    
form the  first class4--,the second     
class takes some one particular function
 of ,life  common to all living         
objects1--nutrition1 for instance2 or1  
to adopt the  phrase most in vogue at   

present1 assimilation1 for the purposes 
of  reproduction and growth4 ,now this1 
it is evident1 can be an appropriate    
definition only of the very lowest      
species1 as of a ,fungus or a ,mollusca2
  and just as comprehensive an idea of  
the mystery of ,life1 as a ,mollusca    
might give1 can this definition afford4 
,but this is not the only  objection4   
,for1 first1 it is not pretended that we
 begin with seeking  for an organ       
evidently appropriated to nutrition1 and
 then infer that the  substance in which
 such an organ is found lives4 ,on the  
contrary1 in a  number of cases among   
the obscurer animals and vegetables we  
infer the  organ from the               
pre-established fact of its life4       
,secondly1 it identifies  the process   
itself with a certain range of its      
forms1 those1 namely1 by  which it is   
manifested in animals and vegetables4   
,for this1 too1 no less  than the       
former1 presupposes the arbitrary       
division of all things into not  living 

and lifeless1 on which1 as ,i before    
observed1 all these definitions  are    
grounded4 ,but it is sorry logic to take
 the proof of an affirmative in  one    
thing as the proof of the negative in   
another4 ,all animals that have  lungs  
breathe1 but it would be a childish     
oversight to deduce the  converse1 viz4 
all animals that breathe have lungs4    
,the theory in which  the ,french       
chemists organized the discoveries of   
,black1 ,cavendish1  ,priestly1         
,scheele1 and other ,english and ,german
 philosophers1 is still1  indeed1 the   
reigning theory1 but rather1 it should  
seem1 from the absence  of a rival      
sufficiently popular to fill the throne 
in its stead1 than from  the continuance
 of an implicit belief in its own       
stability4 ,we no longer  at least      
cherish that intensity of faith which1  
before ,davy commenced his  brilliant   
career1 had not only identified it with 
chemistry itself1 but  had substituted  
its nomenclature1 even in common        

conversation1 for the far  more         
philosophic language which the human    
race had abstracted from the  laboratory
 of ,nature4 ,i may venture to prophecy 
that no future ,beddoes  will make it   
the corival of the mathematical sciences
 in demonstrative  evidence4 ,i think it
 a matter of doubt whether1 during the  
period of its  supposed infallibility1  
physiology derived more benefit from the
  extension1 or injury from the         
misdirection1 of its views4 ,enough of  
the  latter is fresh in recollection to 
make it but an equivocal compliment to  
a physiological position1 that it must  
stand or fall with the corpuscular      
philosophy1 as modified by the ,french  
theory of chemistry4 ,yet should it     
happen 7and the event is not impossible1
 nor the supposition altogether         
absurd17 that more and more decisive    
facts should present themselves in      
confirmation of the metamorphosis of    
elements1 the position that life        
consists in assimilation would either   

cease to be distinctive1 or fall  back  
into the former class as an identical   
proposition1 namely1 that ,life1        
meaning by the word that sort of growth 
which takes place by means of a         
peculiar organization1 consists in that 
sort of growth which is peculiar  to    
organized life4 ,thirdly1 the definition
 involves a still more  egregious flaw  
in the reasoning1 namely1 that of cum   
hoc1 ergo propter  hoc 7or the          
assumption of causation from mere       
coexistence72 and this1  too1 in its    
very worst form4 ,for it is not cum hoc 
solo1 ergo propter  hoc1 which would in 
many cases supply a presumptive proof by
 induction1  but cum hoc1 et plurimis   
aliis1 ergo propter hoc6 ,shell1 of some
 kind or  other1 is common to the whole 
order of testacea1 but it would be      
absurd to  define the vis vit of        
testaceous animals as existing in the   
shell1  though we know it to be the     
constant accompaniment1 and have every  
reason  to believe the constant effect1 

of the specific life that acts in those 
animals4 ,were we 7argumenti  caus7 to  
imagine shell coextensive with  the     
organized creation1 this would produce  
no abatement in the falsity of  the     
reasoning4 ,nor does the flaw stop here2
 for a physiological1 that is a  real1  
definition1 as distinguished from the   
verbal definitions of  lexicography1    
must consist neither in any single      
property or function of  the thing to be
 defined1 nor yet in all collectively1  
which latter1  indeed1 would be a       
history1 not a definition4 ,it must     
consist1 therefore1  in the law of the  
thing1 or in such an idea of it1 as1    
being admitted1  all the properties and 
functions are admitted by implication4  
,it must  likewise be so far causal1    
that a full insight having been obtained
 of  the law1 we derive from it a       
progressive insight into the necessity  
and  generation of the phenomena of     
which it is the law4 ,suppose a disease 
in  question1 which appeared always     

accompanied with certain symptoms in    
certain stages1 and with some one or    
more symptoms in all stages--say        
deranged digestion1 capricious          
alternation of vivacity and languor1    
headache1 dilated pupil1 diminished     
sensibility to light1 c4--,neither the  
man who selected the one constant       
symptom1 nor he who enumerated all the  
symptoms1 would give the scientific     
definition talem scilicet1 quali        
scientia fit vel datur1 but the man who 
at once named and defined the  disease  
hydrocephalus1 producing pressure on the
 brain4 ,for it is the  essence of a    
scientific definition to be causative1  
not by introduction of  imaginary       
somewhats1 natural or supernatural under
 the name of causes1 but  by announcing 
the law of action in the particular     
case1 in subordination  to the common   
law of which all the phenomena are      
modifications or results4    ,now in the
 definition on which1 as the            
representative of a whole class1 we  are

 now animadverting1 a single effect is  
given as constituting the  cause4 ,for  
nutrition by digestion is certainly     
necessary to life1 only  under certain  
circumstances1 but that life is         
previously necessary to  digestion is   
absolutely certain under all            
circumstances4 ,besides1 what  other    
phenomenon of ,life would the conception
 of assimilation1 per se1  or as it     
exists in the lowest order of animals1  
involve or explain8 ,how1  for instance1
 does it include sensation1 locomotion1 
or habit8 or if the  two former should  
be taken as distinct from life1 toto    
genere1 and  supervenient to it1 we then
 ask what conception is given of vital  
assimilation as contradistinguished from
 that of the nucleus of a crystal8      
,lastly1 this definition confounds the  
,law of ,life1 or the primary and       
universal form of vital agency1 with the
 conception1 ,animals4 ,for the  kind1  
it substitutes the representative of its
 degrees and modifications4  ,but the   

first and most important office of      
science1 physical or  physiological1 is 
to contemplate the power in kind1       
abstracted from the  degree4 ,the ideas 
of caloric1 whether as substance or     
property1 and the  conceptions of latent
 heat1 the heat in ice1 c41 that excite 
the wonder  or the laughter of the      
vulgar1 though susceptible of the most  
important  practical applications1 are  
the result of this abstraction2 while   
the only  purpose to which a definition 
like the preceding could become         
subservient1  would be in supplying a   
nomenclature with the character of the  
most common  species of a genus--its    
genus generalissimum1 and even this     
would be  useless in the present        
instance1 inasmuch as it presupposes the
 knowledge  of the things characterised4
    ,the third class1 and far superior  
to the two former1 selects some property
  characteristic of all living bodies1  
not merely found in all animals  alike1 
but existing equally in all parts of all

 living things1 both  animals and       
plants4 ,such1 for instance1 is the     
definition of ,life1 as  consisting in  
anti-putrescence1 or the power of       
resisting putrefaction4  ,like all the  
others1 however1 even this confines the 
idea of ,life to those  degrees or      
concentrations of it1 which manifest    
themselves in organized  beings1 or     
rather in those the organization of     
which is apparent to us4  ,consequently1
 it substitutes an abstract term1 or    
generalization of  effects1 for the     
idea1 or superior form of causative     
agency4 ,at best1 it  describes the vis 
vit by one only of its many influences4 
,it is  however1 as we have said before1
 preferable to the former1 because it is
  not1 as they are1 altogether          
unfruitful1 inasmuch as it attests1 less
  equivocally than any other sign1 the  
presence or absence of that degree of   
the vis vit which is the necessary      
condition of organic or  self-renewing  
power4 ,it throws no light1 however1 on 

the law or principle  of action2 it does
 not increase our insight into the other
 phenomena2 it  presents to us no       
inclusive form1 out of which the other  
forms may be  developed1 and finally1   
its defect as a definition may be       
detected by  generalizing it into a     
higher formula1 as a power which1 during
 its  continuance1 resists or           
subordinates heterogeneous and adverse  
powers4 ,now  this holds equally true of
 chemical relatively to the mechanical  
powers2  and really affirms no more of  
,life than may be equally affirmed of   
every  form of being1 namely1 that it   
tends to preserve itself1 and resists1  
to a  certain extent1 whatever is       
incompatible with the laws that         
constitute its  particular state for the
 time being4 ,for it is not true only of
 the great  divisions or classes into   
which we have found it expedient to     
distinguish1  while we generalize1 the  
powers acting in nature1 as into        
intellectual1  vital1 chemical1         

mechanical2 but it holds equally true of
 the degrees1 or  species of each of    
these genera relatively to each other3  
as in the  decomposition of the alkalies
 by heat1 or the galvanic spark4 ,like  
the  combining power of ,life1 the      
copula here resists for awhile the      
attempts  to dissolve it1 and then      
yields1 to reappear in new phenomena4   
,it is a wonderful property of the human
 mind1 that when once a momentum  has   
been given to it in a fresh direction1  
it pursues the new path with  obstinate 
perseverance1 in all conceivable        
bearings1 to its utmost  extremes4 ,and 
by the startling consequences which     
arise out of these  extremes1 it is     
first awakened to its error1 and either 
recalled to some  former track1 or      
receives some fresh impulse1 which it   
follows with the  same eagerness1 and   
admits to the same monopoly4 ,thus in   
the #acth century  the first science    
which roused the intellects of men from 
the torpor of  barbarism1 was1 as in all

 countries ever has been1 and ever must 
be the  case1 the science of            
,metaphysics and ,ontology4 ,we first   
seek what can  be found at home1 and    
what wonder if truths1 that appeared to 
reveal the  secret depths of our own    
souls1 should take possession of the    
whole mind1  and all truths appear      
trivial which could not either be       
evolved out of  similar principles1 by  
the same process1 or at least brought   
under the  same forms of thought1 by    
perceived or imagined analogies8 ,and so
 it was4  ,for more than a century men  
continued to invoke the oracle of their 
own  spirits1 not only concerning its   
own forms and modes of being1 but       
likewise concerning the laws of external
 nature4 ,all attempts at  philosophical
 explication were commenced by a mere   
effort of the  understanding1 as the    
power of abstraction2 or by the         
imagination1  transferring its own      
experiences to every object presented   
from without4  ,by the former1 a class  

of phenomena were in the first place    
abstracted1  and fixed in some general  
term3 of course this could designate    
only the  impressions made by the       
outward objects1 and so far1 therefore1 
having  been thus metamorphosed1 they   
were effects of these objects2 but then 
made  to supply the place of their own  
causes1 under the name of occult        
qualities4 ,thus the properties peculiar
 to gold1 were abstracted from  those it
 possessed in common with other bodies1 
and then generalized in  the term       
,aureity3 and the inquirer was          
instructed that the ,essence of  ,gold1 
or the cause which constituted the      
peculiar modification of matter  called 
gold1 was the power of aureity4 ,by the 
latter1 i4e4 by the  imagination1       
thought and will were superadded to the 
occult quality1 and  every form of      
nature had its appropriate ,spirit1 to  
be controlled or  conciliated by an     
appropriate ceremonial4 ,this was       
entitled its  ,,substantial ,,form4     

,thus1 physic became a sort of dull     
poetry1 and the art  of medicine 7for   
physiology could scarcely be said to    
exist7 was a system  of magic1 blended  
with traditional empiricism4 ,thus the  
forms of thought  proceeded to act in   
their own emptiness1 with no attempt to 
fill or  substantiate them by the       
information of the senses1 and all the  
branches  of science formed so many     
sections of logic and metaphysics4 ,and 
so it  continued1 even to the time that 
the ,reformation sounded the second     
trumpet1 and the authority of the       
schools sank with that of the hierarchy1
  under the intellectual courage and    
activity which this great revolution    
had inspired4 ,power1 once awakened1    
cannot rest in one object4 ,all the     
sciences partook of the new influences4 
,the world of experimental  philosophy  
was soon mapped out for posterity by the
 comprehensive and  enterprising genius 
of ,bacon1 and the laws explained by    
which experiment  could be dignified    

into experience47#b7 ,but no sooner was 
the impulse  given1 than the same       
propensity was made manifest of looking 
at all things  in the one point of view 
which chanced to be of predominant      
attraction4  ,our ,gilbert1 a man of    
genuine philosophical genius1 had no    
sooner  multiplied the facts of         
magnetism1 and extended our knowledge   
concerning  the property of magnetic    
bodies1 but all things in heaven1 and   
earth1 and  in the waters beneath the   
earth1 were resolved into magnetic      
influences4    ,shortly after a new     
light was struck by ,harriott and       
,descartes1 with their  contemporaries1 
or immediate predecessors1 and the      
restoration of ancient  geometry1 aided 
by the modern invention of algebra1     
placed the science of  mechanism on the 
philosophic throne4 ,how widely this    
domination spread1  and how long it     
continued1 if1 indeed1 even now it can  
be said to have  abdicated its          
pretensions1 the reader need not be     

reminded4 ,the sublime  discoveries of  
,newton1 and1 together with these1 his  
not less fruitful  than wonderful       
application1 of the higher mathesis to  
the movements of the  celestial bodies1 
and to the laws of light1 gave almost a 
religious  sanction to the corpuscular  
system and mechanical theory4 ,it became
  synonymous with philosophy itself4 ,it
 was the sole portal at which truth  was
 permitted to enter4 ,the human body was
 treated of as an hydraulic  machine1   
the operations of medicine were solved1 
and alas6 even directed  by reference   
partly to gravitation and the laws of   
motion1 and partly by  chemistry1 which 
itself1 however1 as far as its theory   
was concerned1 was  but a branch of     
mechanics working exclusively by        
imaginary wedges1 angles1  and spheres4 
,should the reader chance to put his    
hand on the 8,principles  of            
,philosophy10 by ,la ,forge1 an         
immediate disciple of ,descartes1 he may
  see the phenomena of sleep solved in a

 copper-plate engraving1 with all  the  
figures into which the globules of the  
blood shaped themselves1 and  the       
results demonstrated by mathematical    
calculations4 ,in short1 from the  time 
of ,kepler7#c7 to that of ,newton1 and  
from ,newton to ,hartley1 not only  all 
things in external nature1 but the      
subtlest mysteries of life and          
organization1 and even of the intellect 
and moral being1 were conjured  within  
the magic circle of mathematical formul4
 ,and now a new light was  struck by the
 discovery of electricity1 and1 in every
 sense of the word1  both playful and   
serious1 both for good and for evil1 it 
may be affirmed  to have electrified the
 whole frame of natural philosophy4     
,close on its  heels followed the       
momentous discovery of the principal    
gases by ,scheele  and ,priestly1 the   
composition of water by ,cavendish1 and 
the doctrine of  latent heat by ,black4 
,the scientific world was prepared for a
 new dynasty2  accordingly1 as soon as  

,lavoisier had reduced the infinite     
variety of  chemical phenomena to the   
actions1 reactions1 and interchanges of 
a few  elementary substances1 or at     
least excited the expectation that this 
would  speedily be effected1 the hope   
shot up1 almost instantly1 into full    
faith1  that it had been effected4      
,henceforward the new path1 thus        
brilliantly  opened1 became the common  
road to all departments of knowledge3   
and1 to  this moment1 it has been       
pursued with an eagerness and almost    
epidemic  enthusiasm which1 scarcely    
less than its political revolutions1    
characterise the spirit of the age4     
,many and inauspicious have been the    
invasions and inroads of this new       
conqueror into the rightful territories 
of other sciences2 and strange          
alterations have been made in less      
harmless  points than those of          
terminology1 in homage to an art        
unsettled1 in the  very ferment of      
imperfect discoveries1 and either       

without a theory1 or  with a theory     
maintained only by composition and      
compromise4 ,yet this very  circumstance
 has favoured its encroachments1 by the 
gratifications which  its novelty       
affords to our curiosity1 and by the    
keener interest and  higher excitement  
which an unsettled and revolutionary    
state is sure to  inspire4 ,he who      
supposes that science possesses an      
immunity from such  influences knows    
little of human nature4 ,how1 otherwise1
 could men of  strong minds and sound   
judgments have attempted to penetrate by
 the clue  of chemical experiment the   
secret recesses1 the sacred adyta of    
organic  life1 without being aware that 
chemistry must needs be at its extreme  
limits1 when it has approached the      
threshold of a higher power8 ,its own   
transgressions1 however1 and the failure
 of its enterprises will become  the    
means of defining its absolute boundary1
 and we shall have to guard  against the
 opposite error of rejecting its aid    

altogether as analogy1  because we have 
repelled its ambitious claims to an     
identity with the  vital powers4        
99 99 99 99 99    ,previously to the    
submitting my own ideas on the subject  
of life1 and the  powers into which it  
resolves itself1 or rather in which it  
is manifested  to us1 ,i have hazarded  
this apparent digression from the       
anxiety to  preclude certain suspicions1
 which the subject itself is so fitted  
to  awaken1 and while ,i anticipate the 
charges1 to plead in answer to each a   
full and unequivocal--not guilty6    ,in
 the first place1 therefore1 ,i         
distinctly disclaim all intention of    
explaining life into an occult quality2 
and retort the charge on those who  can 
satisfy themselves with defining it as  
the peculiar power by which  death is   
resisted4    ,secondly4 ,convinced--by  
revelation1 by the consenting authority 
of all  countries1 and of all ages1 by  
the imperative voice of my own          
conscience1  and by that wide chasm     

between man and the noblest animals of  
the brute  creation1 which no           
perceivable or conceivable difference of
 organization  is sufficient to         
overbridge--that ,i have a rational and 
responsible soul1 ,i  think far too     
reverentially of the same to degrade it 
into an hypothesis1  and cannot be blind
 to the contradiction ,i must incur1 if 
,i assign that  soul which ,i believe to
 constitute the peculiar nature of man  
as the cause  of functions and          
properties1 which man possesses in      
common with the oyster  and the         
mushroom47#d7    ,thirdly1 while ,i     
disclaim the error of ,stahl in deriving
 the phenomena of  life from the        
unconscious actions of the rational     
soul1 ,i repel with still  greater      
earnestness the assertion and even the  
supposition that the  functions are the 
offspring of the structure1 and         
8,life7#e7 the result of  organization10
 connected with it as effect with cause4
 ,nay1 the position  seems to me little 

less strange1 than as if a man should   
say1 that  building with all the        
included handicraft1 of plastering1     
sawing1 planing1  c4 were the offspring 
of the house2 and that the mason and    
carpenter were  the result of a suite of
 chambers1 with the passages and        
staircases that  lead to them4 ,to make 
,a the offspring of ,b1 when the very   
existence of ,b  as ,b presupposes the  
existence of ,a1 is preposterous in the 
literal  sense of the word1 and a       
consummate instance of the hysteron     
proteron in  logic4 ,but if ,i reject   
the organ as the cause of that1 of which
 it is the  organ1 though ,i might admit
 it among the conditions of its actual  
functions2 for the same reason1 ,i must 
reject fluids and ethers of all  kinds1 
magnetical1 electrical1 and universal1  
to whatever quintessential  thinness    
they may be treble distilled1 and 7as it
 were7  super-substantiated4 ,with      
these1 ,i abjure likewise all chemical  
agencies1 compositions1 and             

decompositions1 were it only that as    
stimulants they suppose a stimulability 
sui generis1 which is but  another      
paraphrase for life4 ,or if they are    
themselves at once both the  excitant   
and the excitability1 ,i miss the       
connecting link between this  imaginary 
ether and the visible body1 which then  
becomes no otherwise  distinguished from
 inanimate matter1 than by its          
juxtaposition in mere  space1 with an   
heterogeneous inmate1 the cycle of whose
 actions revolves  within itself4       
,besides which ,i should think that ,i  
was confounding  metaphors and realities
 most absurdly1 if ,i imagined that ,i  
had a greater  insight into the meaning 
and possibility of a living alcohol1    
than of a  living quicksilver4 ,in      
short1 visible surface and power of any 
kind1  much more the power of life1 are 
ideas which the very forms of the human 
understanding make it impossible to     
identify4 ,but whether the powers which 
manifest themselves to us under certain 

conditions in the forms of  electricity1
 or chemical attraction1 have any       
analogy to the power which  manifests   
itself in growth and organization1 is   
altogether a different  question1 and   
demands altogether a different chain of 
reasoning3 if it be  indeed a tree of   
knowledge1 it will be known by its      
fruits1 and these will  depends not on  
the mere assertion1 but on the          
inductions by which the  position is    
supported1 and by the additions which it
 makes to our insight  into the nature  
of the facts it is meant to illustrate4 
,to account for ,life is one thing2 to  
explain ,life another4 ,in the first  we
 are supposed to state something prior  
7if not in time1 yet in the order  of   
,nature7 to the thing accounted for1 as 
the ground or cause of that  thing1 or  
7which comprises the meaning and force  
of both words7 as its  sufficient cause1
 quae et facit1 et subest4 ,and to this1
 in the question  of ,life1 ,i know no  
possible answer1 but ,,god4 ,to account 

for a thing is to  see into the         
principle of its possibility1 and from  
that principle to  evolve its being4    
,thus the mathematician demonstrates the
 truths of  geometry by constructing    
them4 ,it is an admirable remark of     
,joh4 ,bapt4 a  ,vico1 in a ,tract      
published at ,naples1 #agaj17f7         
8,geometrica ide  demonstramus1 quia    
facimus2 physica si demonstrare         
possimus1 faceremus4  ,metaphysici veri 
claritas eadem ac lucis1 quam non nisi  
per opaca  cognoscimus2 nam non lucem   
sed lucidas res videmus4 ,physica sunt  
opaca1  nempe formata et finita1 in     
quibus ,metaphysici veri lumen videmus40
 ,the  reasoner who assigns structure or
 organization as the antecedent of      
,life1  who names the former a cause1   
and the latter its effect1 he it is who 
pretends to account for life4 ,now      
,euclid would1 with great right1 demand 
of such a philosopher to make ,life2 in 
the same sense1 ,i mean1 in which       
,euclid makes an ,icosahedron1 or a     

figure of twenty sides1 namely1 in the  
understanding or by an intellectual     
construction4 ,an argument which1 of    
itself1 is sufficient to prove the      
untenable nature of ,materialism4    ,to
 explain a power1 on the other hand1 is 
7the power itself being assumed1  though
 not comprehended1 ut qui datur1 non    
intelligitur7 to unfold or  spread it   
out3 ex implicito planum facere4 ,in the
 present instance1 such  an explanation 
would consist in the reduction of the   
idea of ,life to its  simplest and most 
comprehensive form or mode of action2   
that is1 to some  characteristic        
instinct or tendency1 evident in all its
  manifestations1 and involved in the   
idea itself4 ,this assumed as existing  
in kind1 it will be required to present 
an ascending series of  corresponding   
phenomena as involved in1 proceeding    
from1 and so far  therefore explained   
by1 the supposition of its progressive  
intensity and  of the gradual           
enlargement of its sphere1 the necessity

 of which again  must be contained in   
the idea of the tendency itself4 ,in    
other words1 the  tendency having been  
given in kind1 it is required to render 
the  phenomena intelligible as its      
different degrees and modifications4    
,still  more perfect will the           
explanation be1 should the necessity of 
this  progression and of these ascending
 gradations be contained in the assumed 
idea of life1 as thus defined by the    
general form and common purport of  all 
its various tendencies4 ,this done1 we  
have only to add the conditions  common 
to all its phenomena1 and1 those        
appropriate to each place and  rank1 in 
the scale of ascent1 and then proceed to
 determine the primary  and constitutive
 forms1 i4e4 the elementary powers in   
which this  tendency realizes itself    
under different degrees and             
conditions47#g7    ,what is ,life8 ,were
 such a question proposed1 we should be 
tempted to  answer1 what is not ,life   
that really is8 ,our reason convinces us

 that  the quantities of things1 taken  
abstractedly as quantity1 exist only in 
the relations they bear to the          
percipient2 in plainer words1 they exist
  only in our minds1 ut quorum esse est 
percipi4 ,for if the definite           
quantities have a ground1 and therefore 
a reality1 in the external world1  and  
independent of the mind that perceives  
them1 this ground is ipso  facto a      
quality2 the very etymon of this world  
showing that a quality1  not taken in   
its own nature but in relation to       
another thing1 is to be  defined causa  
sufficiens1 entia1 de quibus loquimur2  
esse talia1 qualia  sunt4 ,either the   
quantities perceived exist only in the  
perception1 or  they have likewise a    
real existence4 ,in the former case1 the
 quality 7the  word is here used in an  
active sense7 that determines them      
belongs to  ,life1 per ipsam hypothesin2
 and in the other case1 since by the    
agreement of all parties ,life may exist
 in other forms than those of           

consciousness1 or even of sensibility1  
the onus probandi falls on those  who   
assert of any quality that it is not    
,life4 ,for the analogy of all  that we 
know is clearly in favour of the        
contrary supposition1 and if a  man     
would analyse the meaning of his own    
words1 and carefully distinguish  his   
perceptions and sensations from the     
external cause exciting them1 and  at   
the same time from the quantity or      
superficies under which that cause  is  
acting1 he would instantly find himself1
 if we mistake not1  involuntarily      
identifying the ideas of ,quality and   
,life4 ,life1 it is  admitted on all    
hands1 does not necessarily imply       
consciousness or  sensibility2 and we1  
for our parts1 cannot see that the      
irritability which  metals manifest to  
galvanism1 can be more remote from that 
which may be  supposed to exist in the  
tribe of lichens1 or in the helvell1    
pezizee1  c41 than the latter is from   
the phenomena of excitability in the    

human  body1 whatever name it may be    
called by1 or in whatever way it may    
modify  itself47#h7 ,that the mere act  
of growth does not constitute the idea  
of  ,life1 or the absence of that act   
exclude it1 we have a proof in every egg
  before it is placed under the hen1 and
 in every grain of corn before it is    
put into the soil4 ,all that could be   
deduced by fair reasoning would  amount 
to this only1 that the life of metals1  
as the power which effects  and         
determines their comparative cohesion1  
ductility1 c41 was yet lower  on the    
scale than the ,life which produces the 
first attempts of  organization1 in the 
almost shapeless tremella1 or in such   
fungi as grow  in the dark recesses of  
the mine4                               
99 99 99 99 99    ,if it were asked1 to 
what purpose or with what view we should
 generalize  the idea of ,life thus     
broadly1 ,i should not hesitate to reply
 that1 were  there no other use         
conceivable1 there would be some        

advantage in merely  destroying an      
arbitrary assumption in natural         
philosophy1 and in reminding  the       
physiologists that they could not hear  
the life of metals asserted  with a more
 contemptuous surprise than they        
themselves incur from the  vulgar1 when 
they speak of the ,life in mould or     
mucor4 ,but this is not the  case4 ,this
 wider view not only precludes a        
groundless assumption1 it  likewise     
fills up the arbitrary chasm between    
physics and physiology1 and  justifies  
us in using the former as means of      
insight into the latter1  which would be
 contrary to all sound rules of         
ratiocination if the powers  working in 
the objects of the two sciences were    
absolutely and essentially  diverse4    
,for as to abstract the idea of kind    
from that of degrees1  which are alone  
designated in the language of common    
use1 is the first and  indispensable    
step in philosophy1 so are we the better
 enabled to form a  notion of the kind1 

the lower the degree1 and the simpler   
the form is  in which it appears to us4 
,we study the complex in the simple2 and
 only  from the intuition of the lower  
can we safely proceed to the            
intellection  of the higher degrees4    
,the only danger lies in the leaping    
from low to  high1 with the neglect of  
the intervening gradations4 ,but the    
same error  would introduce discord into
 the gamut1 et ab abusu contra usum non 
valet  consequentia4 ,that these degrees
 will themselves bring forth secondary  
kinds sufficiently distinct for all the 
purposes of science1 and even for       
common sense1 will be seen in the course
 of this inquisition3 for this is  one  
proof of the essential vitality of      
nature1 that she does not ascend as     
links in a suspended chain1 but as the  
steps in a ladder2 or rather she at  one
 and the same time ascends as by a      
climax1 and expands as the  concentric  
circles on the lake from the point to   
which the stone in its  fall had given  

the first impulse4 ,at all events1 a    
contemptuous rejection  of this mode of 
reasoning would come with an ill grace  
from a medical  philosopher1 who cannot 
combine any three phenomena of health or
 of  disease without the assumption of  
powers1 which he is compelled to deduce 
without being able to demonstrate2 nay1 
even of material substances as the      
vehicles of these powers1 which he can  
never expect to exhibit before  the     
senses4    ,from the preceding it should
 appear1 that the most comprehensive    
formula  to which life is reducible1    
would be that of the internal copula of 
bodies1 or 7if we may venture to borrow 
a phrase from the ,platonic school7  the
 power which discloses itself from      
within as a principle of unity  in the  
many4 ,but that there is a physiognomy  
in words1 which1 without  reference to  
their fitness or necessity1 make        
unfavorable as well as  favorable       
impressions1 and that every unusual term
 in an abstruse research  incurs the    

risk of being denominated jargon1 ,i    
should at the same time  have borrowed a
 scholastic term1 and defined life      
absolutely1 as the  principle of unity  
in multeity1 as far as the former1 the  
unity to wit1  is produced ab intra2 but
 eminently 7sensu eminenti71 ,i define  
life  as the principle of individuation1
 or the power which unites a given  all 
into a whole that is presupposed by all 
its parts4 ,the link that  combines the 
two1 and acts throughout both1 will1 of 
course1 be defined by  the tendency to  
individuation4 ,thus1 from its utmost   
latency1 in  which life is one with the 
elementary powers of mechanism1 that is1
 with  the powers of mechanism          
considered as qualitative and actually  
synthetic1  to its highest              
manifestation1 7in which1 as the vis vit
 vivida1 or life  as life1 it           
subordinates and modifies these powers1 
becoming  contra-distinguished from     
mechanism17#i7 ab extra1 under the form 
of  organization17 there is an ascending

 series of intermediate classes1 and  of
 analogous gradations in each class4 ,to
 a reflecting mind1 indeed1 the  very   
fact that the powers peculiar to life in
 living animals include  cohesion1      
elasticity1 c4 7or1 in the words of a   
late publication1 8that  living matter  
exhibits these physical                 
properties107#aj77 would demonstrate    
that1 in the truth of things1 they are  
homogeneous1 and that both the  classes 
are but degrees and different dignities 
of one and the same  tendency4 ,for the 
latter are not subjected to the former  
as a lever1 or  walking-stick to the    
muscles2 the more intense the life is1  
the less does  elasticity1 for instance1
 appear as elasticity4 ,it sinks down   
into the  nearest approach to its       
physical form by a series of degrees    
from the  contraction and elongation of 
the irritable muscle to the physical    
hardness of the insensitive nail4 ,the  
lower powers are assimilated1 not       
merely employed1 and assimilation       

presupposes the homogeneous nature of   
the thing assimilated2 else it is a     
miracle1 only not the same as that of  a
 creation1 because it would imply that  
additional and equal miracle of         
annihilation4 ,in short1 all the        
impossibilities which the acutest of the
  reformed ,divines have detected in the
 hypothesis of transubstantiation  would
 apply1 totidem verbis et syllabis1 to  
that of assimilation1 if the  objects   
and the agents were really              
heterogeneous4 ,unless1 therefore1 a    
thing can exhibit properties which do   
not belong to it1 the very admission    
that living matter exhibits physical    
properties1 includes the further        
admission1 that those physical or dead  
properties are themselves vital  in     
essence1 really distinct but in         
appearance only different2 or in        
absolute contrast with each other4      
,in all cases that which1 abstractly    
taken1 is the definition of the  kind1  
will1 when applied absolutely1 or in its

 fullest sense1 be the  definition of   
the highest degree of that kind4 ,if    
life1 in general1 be  defined vis ab    
intra1 cujus proprium est coadunare     
plura in rem unicam1  quantm est res    
unica2 the unity will be more intense in
 proportion as it  constitutes each     
particular thing a whole of itself2 and 
yet more1 again1  in proportion to the  
number and interdependence of the parts1
 which it  unites as a whole4 ,but a    
whole composed1 ab intra1 of different  
parts1  so far interdependent that each 
is reciprocally means and end1 is an    
individual1 and the individuality is    
most intense where the greatest         
dependence of the parts on the whole is 
combined with the greatest  dependence  
of the whole on its parts2 the first    
7namely1 the dependence of  the parts on
 the whole7 being absolute2 the second  
7namely1 the dependence  of the whole on
 its parts7 being proportional to the   
importance of the  relation which the   
parts have to the whole1 that is1 as    

their action  extends more or less      
beyond themselves4 ,for this spirit of  
the whole is  most expressed in that    
part which derives its importance as an 
,end from  its importance as a ,mean1   
relatively to all the parts under the   
same  copula4    ,finally1 of           
individuals1 the living power will be   
most intense in that  individual which1 
as a whole1 has the greatest number of  
integral parts  presupposed in it2 when1
 moreover1 these integral parts1        
together with a  proportional increase  
of their interdependence1 as parts1 have
  themselves most the character of      
wholes in the sphere occupied by them4  
,a  mathematical point1 line1 or        
surface1 is an ens rationis1 for it     
expresses an intellectual act2 but a    
physical atom is ens fictitium1  which  
may be made subservient1 as ciphers are 
in arithmetic1 to the  purposes of      
hypothetical construction1 per regulam  
falsi2 but  transferred to ,nature1 it  
is in the strictest sense an absurd     

quantity2 for extension1 and            
consequently divisibility1 or           
multeity17#aa7  7for space cannot be    
divided17 is the indispensable          
condition1 under which  alone anything  
can appear to us1 or even be thought of1
 as a thing4  ,but if it should be      
replied1 that the elementary particles  
are atoms not  positively1 but by such a
 hardness communicated to them as is    
relatively  invincible1 ,i should remind
 the assertor that temeraria citatio    
supernaturalium est pulvinar intellects 
pigri1 and that he who requires  me to  
believe a miracle of his own dreaming1  
must first work a miracle to  convince  
me that he had dreamt by inspiration4   
,add1 too1 the gross  inconsistency of  
resorting to an immaterial influence in 
order to complete  a system of          
materialism1 by the exclusion of all    
modes of existence which  the theorist  
cannot in imagination1 at least1 finger 
and peep at6 ,each  of the preceding    
gradations1 as above defined1 might be  

represented as  they exist1 and are     
realised in ,nature4 ,but each would    
require a work for  itself1 co-extensive
 with the science of metals1 and that of
 fossils 7both  as geologically         
applied72 of crystallization2 and of    
vegetable and animal  physiology1 in all
 its distinct branches4 ,the nature of  
the present essay  scarcely permits the 
space sufficient to illustrate our      
meaning4 ,the proof  of its probability 
7for to that only can we arrive by so   
partial an  application of the          
hypothesis71 is to be found in its      
powers of solving  the particular class 
of phenomena1 that form the subjects of 
the present  inquisition1 more          
satisfactorily and profitably than has  
been done1 or  even attempted before4   
,exclusively1 therefore1 for the        
purposes of illustration1 ,i would take 
as an instance of the first step1 the   
metals1 those1 namely1 that are  capable
 of permanent reduction4 ,for1 by the   
established laws of  nomenclature1 the  

others 7as sodium1 potassium1 calcium1  
silicium1 c47  would be entitled to a   
class of their own1 under the name of   
bases4 ,it  is long since the chemists  
have despaired of decomposing this class
 of  bodies4 ,they still remain1 one and
 all1 as elements or simple bodies1     
though1 on the principles of the        
corpuscularian philosophy1 nothing can  
be  more improbable than that they      
really are such2 and no reason has or   
can  be assigned on the grounds of that 
system1 why1 in no one instance1 the    
contrary has not been proved4 ,but this 
is at once explained1 if we assume  them
 as the simplest form of unity1 namely1 
the unity of powers and  properties4    
,for these1 it is evident1 may be       
endlessly modified1 but can  never be   
decomposed4 ,if ,i were asked by a      
philosopher who had previously  extended
 the attribute of ,life to the ,byssus  
speciosa1 and even to the  crustaceous  
matter1 or outward bones of a lobster1  
c41 whether the ingot  of gold expressed

 life1 ,i should answer without         
hesitation1 as the  ingot of gold       
assuredly not1 for its form is          
accidental and ab extra4  ,it may be    
added to or detracted from without in   
the least affecting the  nature1 state1 
or properties in the specific matter of 
which the ingot  consists4 ,but as gold1
 as that special union of absolute and  
of relative  gravity1 ductility1 and    
hardness1 which1 wherever they are      
found1  constitute gold1 ,i should      
answer no less fearlessly1 in the       
affirmative4  ,but ,i should further    
add1 that of the two counteracting      
tendencies of  nature1 namely1 that of  
detachment from the universal life1     
which  universality is represented to us
 by gravitation1 and that of attachment 
or reduction into it1 this and the other
 noble metals represented the  units in 
which the latter tendency1 namely1 that 
of identity with the life  of nature1   
subsisted in the greatest overbalance   
over the former4 ,it is  the form of    

unity with the least degree of tendency 
to individuation4    ,rising in the     
ascent1 ,i should take1 as illustrative 
of the second step1  the various forms  
of crystals as a union1 not of powers   
only1 but of  parts1 and as the simplest
 forms of composition in the next       
narrowest  sphere of affinity4 ,here the
 form1 or apparent quantity1 is         
manifestly  the result of the quality1  
and the chemist himself not seldom      
admits  them as infallible characters of
 the substances united in the whole of a
  given crystal4    ,in the first step1 
we had ,life1 as the mere unity of      
powers2 in the  second we have the      
simplest forms of totality evolved4 ,the
 third step is  presented to us in those
 vast formations1 the tracing of which  
generically  would form the science of  
,geology1 or its history in the strict  
sense of  the word1 even as their       
description and diagnostics constitute  
its  preliminaries4    ,their claim to  
this rank ,i cannot here even attempt to

 support4 ,it will be  sufficient to    
explain my reason for having assigned it
 to them1 by the  avowal1 that ,i regard
 them in a twofold point of view3 #ast1 
as the residue  and product of vegetable
 and animal life2 #b;d1 as manifesting  
the  tendencies of the ,life of ,nature 
to vegetation or animalization4 ,and    
this  process ,i believe--in one        
instance by the peat morasses of the    
northern1  and in the other instance by 
the coral banks of the southern         
hemisphere--to  be still connected with 
the present order of vegetable and      
animal ,life1  which constitute the     
fourth and last step in these wide and  
comprehensive  divisions4    ,in the    
lowest forms of the vegetable and animal
 world we perceive totality  dawning    
into individuation1 while in man1 as the
 highest of the class1  the             
individuality is not only perfected in  
its corporeal sense1 but begins  a new  
series beyond the appropriate limits of 
physiology4 ,the tendency to            

individuation1 more or less obscure1    
more or less obvious1 constitutes the   
common character of all classes1 as far 
as they maintain for themselves a       
distinction from the universal life of  
the planet2 while the degrees1 both  of 
intensity and extension1 to which this  
tendency is realized1 form the  species1
 and their ranks in the great scale of  
ascent and expansion4    ,in the        
treatment of a subject so vast and      
complex1 within the limits  prescribed  
for an essay like the present1 where it 
is impossible not to  say either too    
much or too little 7and too much because
 too little71 an  author is entitled to 
make large claims on the candour of his 
judges4 ,many  things he must express   
inaccurately1 not from ignorance or     
oversight1 but  because the more precise
 expression would have involved the     
necessity of a  further explanation1 and
 this another1 even to the first        
elements of the  science4 ,this is an   
inconvenience which presses on the      

analytic method1 on  however large a    
scale it may be conducted1 compared with
 the synthetic2  and it must bear with a
 tenfold weight in the present instance1
 where we  are not permitted to avail   
ourselves of its usual advantages as a  
counterbalance to its inherent defects4 
,i shall have done all that ,i dared    
propose to myself1 or that can be justly
 demanded of me by others1 if ,i  have  
succeeded in conveying a sufficiently   
clear1 though indistinct and  inadequate
 notion1 so as of its many results to   
render intelligible that  one which ,i  
am to apply to my particular subject1   
not as a truth already  demonstrated1   
but as an hypothesis1 which pretends to 
no higher merit than  that of explaining
 the particular class of phenomena to   
which it is  applied1 and asks no other 
reward than a presumption in favour of  
the  general system of which it affirms 
itself to be a dependent though         
integral part4 ,by ,life ,i everywhere  
mean the true ,idea of ,life1 or that   

most general form under which ,life     
manifests itself to us1 which includes  
all its other forms4 ,this ,i have      
stated to be the tendency to            
individuation1 and the degrees or       
intensities of ,life to consist in the  
progressive realization of this         
tendency4 ,the power which is           
acknowledged  to exist1 wherever the    
realization is found1 must subsist      
wherever the  tendency is manifested4   
,the power which comes forth and stirs  
abroad in  the bird1 must be latent in  
the egg4 ,i have shown1 moreover1 that  
this  tendency to individuate cannot be 
conceived without the opposite tendency 
to connect1 even as the centrifugal     
power supposes the centripetal1 or as   
the two opposite poles constitute each  
other1 and are the constituent acts  of 
one and the same power in the magnet4   
,we might say that the life of the      
magnet subsists in their union1 but that
 it lives 7acts or manifests  itself7 in
 their strife4 ,again1 if the tendency  

be at once to individuate  and to       
connect1 to detach1 but so as either to 
retain or to reproduce  attachment1 the 
individuation itself must be a tendency 
to the ultimate  production of the      
highest and most comprehensive          
individuality4 ,this must  be the one   
great end of ,nature1 her ultimate      
object1 or by whatever other  word we   
may designate that something which bears
 to a final cause the same  relation    
that ,nature herself bears to the       
,supreme ,intelligence4                 
99 99 99 99 99    ,according to the plan
 ,i have prescribed for this            
inquisition1 we are now  to seek for the
 highest law1 or most general form1     
under which this  tendency acts1 and    
then to pursue the same process with    
this1 as we have  already done with the 
tendency itself1 namely1 having stated  
the law in  its highest abstraction1 to 
present it in the different forms in    
which it  appears and reappears in      
higher and higher dignities4 ,i restate 

the  question4 ,the tendency having been
 ascertained1 what is its most general  
law8 ,i answer--polarity1 or the        
essential dualism of ,nature1 arising   
out  of its productive unity1 and still 
tending to reaffirm it1 either as       
equilibrium1 indifference1 or identity4 
,in its productive power1 of  which the 
product is the only measure1 consists   
its incompatibility with  mathematical  
calculus4 ,for the full applicability of
 an abstract science  ceases1 the moment
 reality begins47#ab7 ,life1 then1 we   
consider as the  copula1 or the unity of
 thesis and antithesis1 position and    
counterposition1--,life itself being the
 positive of both2 as1 on the other     
hand1 the two counterpoints are the     
necessary conditions of the             
manifestations of ,life4 ,these1 by the 
same necessity1 unite in a  synthesis2  
which again1 by the law of dualism1     
essential to all actual  existence1     
expands1 or produces itself1 from the   
point into the line1  in order again to 

converge1 as the initiation of the same 
productive  process in some intenser    
form of reality4 ,thus1 in the identity 
of the two  counter-powers1 ,life       
subsists2 in their strife it consists3  
and in  their reconciliation it at once 
dies and is born again into a new form1 
either falling back into the life of the
 whole1 or starting anew in the  process
 of individuation4    ,whence shall we  
take our beginning8 ,from ,space1 istud 
litigium  philosophorum1 which leaves   
the mind equally dissatisfied1 whether  
we  deny or assert its real existence4  
,to make it wholly ideal1 would be at   
the same time to idealize all phenomena1
 and to undermine the very  conception  
of an external world4 ,to make it real1 
would be to assert the  existence of    
something1 with the properties of       
nothing4 ,it would far  transcend the   
height to which a physiologist must     
confine his flights1  should we attempt 
to reconcile this apparent              
contradiction4 ,it is the duty  and the 

privilege of the theologian to          
demonstrate1 that space is the  ideal   
organ by which the soul of man perceives
 the omnipresence of the  ,supreme      
,reality1 as distinct from the works1   
which in him move1 and live1  and have  
their being2 while the equal mystery of 
,time bears the same  relation to his   
,eternity1 or what is fully equivalent1 
his ,unity4    ,physiologically         
contemplated1 ,nature begins1 proceeds1 
and ends in a  contradiction2 for the   
moment of absolute solution would be    
that in which  ,nature would cease to be
 ,nature1 i4e4 a scheme of ever-varying 
relations2 and physiology1 in the       
ambitious attempt to solve phenomena    
into absolute realities1 would itself   
become a mere web of verbal             
abstractions4    ,but it is in strict   
connexion with our subject1 that we     
should make the  universal ,,forms as   
well as the not less universal ,,law of 
,life1 clear and  intelligible in the   
example of ,time and ,space1 these being

 both the  first specification of the   
principle1 and ever after its           
indispensable  symbols4 ,first1 a single
 act of self-inquiry will show the      
impossibility  of distinctly conceiving 
the one without some involution of the  
other2  either time expressed in space1 
in the form of the mathematical line1 or
  space within time1 as in the circle4  
,but to form the first conception of a  
real thing1 we state both as one in the 
idea1 duration4 ,the formula  is3       
7,a,b,b,a77,a,a7 or the oneness of space
 and time1 is the predicate of  all real
 being4    ,but as little can we        
conceive the oneness1 except as the     
mid-point  producing itself on each     
side2 that is1 manifesting itself on two
 opposite  poles4 ,thus1 from identity  
we derive duality1 and from both        
together we  obtain polarity1 synthesis1
 indifference1 predominance4 ,the line  
is ,time   ,space1 under the            
predominance of ,time3 ,surface is      
,space  ,time1 under the  predominance  

of ,space1 while ,line  ,surface as the 
synthesis of units1 is  the circle in   
the first dignity2 to the sphere in the 
second2 and to the  globe in the third4 
,in short1 neither can the antagonists  
appear but as  two forces of one power1 
nor can the power be conceived by us but
 as the  equatorial point of the two    
counteracting forces2 of which the      
hypomochlion of the lever is as good an 
illustration as anything can be  that is
 thought of mechanically only1 and      
exclusively of life4 ,to make  it       
adequate1 we must substitute the idea of
 positive production for that  of rest1 
or mere neutralization4 ,to the fancy   
alone it is the null-point1  or zero1   
but to the reason it is the punctum     
saliens1 and the power  itself in its   
eminence4 ,even in these1 the most      
abstract and universal  forms of all    
thought and perception--even in the     
ideas of time and space1  we slip under 
them1 as it were1 a substratum2 for we  
cannot think of  them but as far as they

 are co-inherent1 and therefore as      
reciprocally the  measures of each      
other4 ,nor1 again1 can we finish the   
process without  having the idea of     
motion as its immediate product4 ,thus  
we say1 that  time has one dimension1   
and imagine it to ourselves as a line4  
,but the  line we have already proved to
 be the productive synthesis of time1   
with  space under the predominance of   
time4 ,if we exclude space by an        
abstract  assumption1 the time remains  
as a spaceless point1 and represents the
  concentered power of unity and active 
negation1 i4e4 retraction1              
determination1 and limit1 ab intra4 ,but
 if we assume the time as  excluded1 the
 line vanishes1 and we leave space      
dimensionless1 an  indistinguishable    
,,all1 and therefore the representative 
of absolute  weakness and formlessness1 
but1 for that very reason1 of infinite  
capacity  and formability4    ,we have  
been thus full and express on this      
subject1 because these simple  ideas of 

time1 space1 and motion1 of length1     
breadth1 and depth1 are not  only the   
simplest and universal1 but the         
necessary symbols of all  philosophic   
construction4 ,they will be found the   
primary factors and  elementary forms of
 every calculus and of every diagram in 
the algebra and  geometry of a          
scientific physiology4 ,accordingly1 we 
shall recognise the  same forms under   
other names2 but at each return more    
specific and  intense2 and the whole    
process repeated with ascending         
gradations of  reality1 exempli grati3  
,time  space  motion2 ,tm  space  line  
breadth  depth2 depth  motion  force2   
,lf  ,bf  ,df2 ,,ldf  ,,bdf   attraction
  repulsion  gravitation2 and so on1    
even till they pass  into outward       
phenomena1 and form the intermediate    
link between productive  powers and     
fixed products in light1 heat1 and      
electricity4 ,if we pass to  the        
construction of matter1 we find it as   
the product1 or tertium aliud1  of      

antagonist powers of repulsion and      
attraction4 ,remove these powers1 and   
the conception of matter vanishes into  
space--conceive repulsion only1 and  you
 have the same result4 ,for infinite    
repulsion1 uncounteracted and  alone1 is
 tantamount to infinite1 dimensionless  
diffusion1 and this again  to infinite  
weakness2 viz41 to space4 ,conceive     
attraction alone1 and as an  infinite   
contraction1 its product amounts to the 
absolute point1 viz41 to  time4         
,conceive the synthesis of both1 and you
 have matter as a fluxional  antecedent1
 which1 in the very act of formation1   
passes into body by its  gravity1 and   
yet in all bodies it still remains as   
their mass1 which1  being exclusively   
calculable under the law of gravitation1
 gives rise1 as  we before observed1 to 
the science of statics1 most improperly 
called  celestial mechanics4    ,in     
strict consistence with the same        
philosophy which1 instead of            
considering the powers of bodies to have

 been miraculously stuck into a         
prepared and pre-existing matter1 as    
pins into a pin-cushion1 conceives  the 
powers as the productive factors1 and   
the body or phenomenon as the  fact1    
product1 or fixture2 we revert again to 
potentiated length in the  power of     
magnetism2 to surface in the power of   
electricity2 and to the  synthesis of   
both1 or potentiated depth1 in          
constructive1 that is1  chemical        
affinity4 ,but while the two factors are
 as poles to each other1  each factor   
has likewise its own poles1 and thus in 
the simple cross--    ,with ,m ,m1 the  
magnetic line1 running from top to      
bottom1 with f f its  northern pole1 or 
pole of attraction2 and m m its south1  
or pole of  repulsion1 and ,e ,e1       
running from left to right1 one of the  
lines that  spring from each point of ,m
 ,m1 with its east1 or pole of          
contraction1 and  d its west1 or pole of
 diffluence and expansion--we have      
presented to us  the universal          

quadruplicity1 or four elemental forms  
of power2 in the  endless proportions   
and modifications of which1 the         
innumerable offspring  of all-bearing   
,nature consist4 ,wisely docile to the  
suggestions of ,nature  herself1 the    
ancients significantly expressed these  
forces under the names  of earth1 water1
 air1 and fire2 not meaning any tangible
 or visible  substance so generalized1  
but the powers predominant1 and1 as it  
were1 the  living basis of each1 which  
no chemical decomposition can ever      
present to  the senses1 were it only    
that their interpenetration and         
co-inherence  first constitutes them    
sensible1 and is the condition and      
meaning of  a--thing4 ,already our more 
truly philosophical naturalists         
7,ritter1 for  instance7 have begun to  
generalize the four great elements of   
chemical  nomenclature1 carbon1 azote1  
oxygen1 and hydrogen3 the two former as 
the  positive and negative pole of the  
magnetic axis1 or as the power of fixity

  and mobility2 and the two latter as   
the opposite poles1 or plus and minus   
states of cosmical electricity1 as the  
powers of contraction and  dilatation1  
or of comburence and combustibility4    
,these powers are to each  other as     
longitude to latitude1 and the poles of 
each relatively as north  to south1 and 
as east to west4 ,for surely the reader 
will find no distrust  in a system only 
because ,nature1 ever consistent with   
herself1 presents us  everywhere with   
harmonious and accordant symbols of her 
consistent  doctrines4 ,nothing would be
 more easy than1 by the ordinary        
principles of  sound logic and common   
sense1 to demonstrate the impossibility 
and expose  the absurdity of the        
corpuscularian or mechanic system1 or   
than to prove  the intenable nature of  
any intermediate system4 ,but we cannot 
force any  man into an insight or       
intuitive possession of the true        
philosophy1  because we cannot give him 
abstraction1 intellectual intuition1 or 

constructive imagination2 because we    
cannot organize for him an eye that  can
 see1 an ear that can listen to1 or a   
heart that can feel1 the  harmonies of  
,nature1 or recognise in her endless    
forms1 the thousand-fold  realization of
 those simple and majestic laws1 which  
yet in their  absoluteness can be       
discovered only in the recesses of his  
own spirit1--not  by that man1          
therefore1 whose imaginative powers have
 been ossified by  the continual        
reaction and assimilating influences of 
mere objects on  his mind1 and who is a 
prisoner to his own eye and its reflex1 
the passive  fancy6--not by him in whom 
an unbroken familiarity with the organic
 world1  as if it were mechanical1 with 
the sensitive1 but as if it were        
insensate1  has engendered the coarse   
and hard spirit of a sorcerer4 ,the     
former is  unable1 the latter unwilling1
 to master the absolute pre-requisites4 
,there  is neither hope nor occasion for
 him 8to cudgel his brains about it1 he 

has no feeling of the business40 ,if he 
do not see the necessity from  without1 
if he have not learned the possibility  
from within1 of  interpenetration1 of   
total intussusception1 of the existence 
of all in  each as the condition of     
,nature's unity and substantiality1 and 
of the  latency under the predominance  
of some one power1 wherein subsists her 
life and its endless variety1 as he must
 be1 by habitual slavery to the  eye1 or
 its reflex1 the passive fancy1 under   
the influences of the  corpuscularian   
philosophy1 he has so paralysed his     
imaginative powers as  to be unable--or 
by that hardness and heart-hardening    
spirit of contempt1  which is sure to   
result from a perpetual commune with the
 lifeless1 he has  so far debased his   
inward being--as to be unwilling to     
comprehend the  pre-requisite1 he must  
be content1 while standing thus at the  
threshold of  philosophy1 to receive the
 results1 though he cannot be admitted  
to the  deliberation--in other words1 to

 act upon rules which he is incapable of
  understanding as ,,laws1 and to reap  
the harvest with the sharpened iron for 
which others have delved for him in the 
mine4    ,it is not improbable that     
there may exist1 and even be discovered1
 higher  forms and more akin to ,life   
than those of magnetism1 electricity1   
and  constructive 7or chemical7 affinity
 appear to be1 even in their finest     
known influences4 ,it is not improbable 
that we may hereafter find  ourselves   
justified in revoking certain of the    
latter1 and unappropriating  them to a  
yet unnamed triplicity2 or that1 being  
thus assisted1 we may  obtain a         
qualitative instead of a quantitative   
insight into vegetable  animation1 as   
distinct from animal1 and that of the   
insect world from  both4 ,but in the    
present state of science1 the magnetic1 
electric1 and  chemical powers are the  
last and highest of inorganic nature4   
,these1  therefore1 we assume as        
presenting themselves again to us1 in   

their next  metamorphosis1 as           
reproduction 7i4e4 growth and identity  
of the whole1  amid the change or flux  
of all the parts71 irritability and     
sensibility2  reproduction corresponding
 to magnetism1 irritability to          
electricity1 and  sensibility to        
constructive chemical affinity4         
99 99 99 99 99    ,but before we proceed
 further1 it behoves us to answer the   
objections  contained in the following  
passage1 or withdraw ourselves in time  
from the  bitter contempt in which it   
would involve us4 ,acting under such a  
necessity1 we need not apologise for the
 length of the quotation4    #a4 8,if10 
says ,mr4 ,lawrence1 8the properties of 
living matter are to be  explained in   
this way1 why should not we adopt the   
same plan with physical  properties1 and
 account for gravitation1 or chemical   
affinity1 by the  supposition of        
appropriate subtile fluids8 ,why does   
the irritability of a  muscle need such 
an explanation1 if explanation it can be

 called1 more  than the elective        
attraction of a salt80    #b4 8,to make 
the matter more intelligible1 this vital
 principle is compared  to magnetism1 to
 electricity1 and to galvanism2 or it is
 roundly stated to  be oxygen4 ',tis    
like a camel1 or like a whale1 or like  
what you please40    #c4 8,you have only
 to grant that the phenomena of the     
sciences just alluded  to depend on     
extremely fine and invisible fluids1    
superadded to the  matters in which they
 are exhibited1 and to allow further    
that ,life1 and  magnetic1 galvanic1 and
 electric phenomena correspond          
perfectly2 the  existence of a subtile  
matter of ,life will then be a very     
probable  inference40    #d4 8,on this  
illustration you will naturally remark1 
that the existence of  the magnetic1    
electric1 and galvanic fluids1 which is 
offered as a proof  of the existence of 
a vital fluid1 is as much a matter of   
doubt as that of  the vital fluid       
itself40    #e4 8,it is singular1 also1 

that the vital principle should be like 
both  magnetism and electricity1 when   
these two are not like each other40     
#f4 8,it would have been interesting to 
have had this illustration  prosecuted a
 little further4 ,we should have been   
pleased to learn whether  the human body
 is more like a loadstone1 a voltaic    
pile1 or an electrical  machine2 whether
 the organs are to be regarded as       
,leyden jars1 magnetic  needles1 or     
batteries40    #g4 8,the truth is1 there
 is no resemblance1 no analogy1 between 
,electricity  and ,life2 the two orders 
of phenomena are completely distinct2   
they are  incommensurable4 ,electricity 
illustrates life no more than life      
illustrates electricity407#ac7    ,to   
avoid unnecessary description1 ,i shall 
refer to the passages by the  numbers   
affixed to them1 for that purpose1 in   
the margin4    ,in reply to ,no4 #a1 ,i 
ask whether1 in the nature of the mind1 
illustration  and explanation must not  
of necessity proceed from the lower to  

the  higher8 or whether a boy is to be  
taught his addition1 subtraction1       
multiplication1 and division1 by the    
highest branches of algebraic  analysis8
 ,is there any better way of systematic 
teaching1 than that of  illustrating    
each new step1 or having each new step  
illustrated to him by  its identity in  
kind with the step the next below it8   
though it be the  only mode in which    
this objection can be answered1 yet it  
seems affronting  to remind the         
objector1 of rules so simple as that the
 complex must even  be illustrated by   
the more simple1 or the less scrutible  
by that which is  more subject to our   
examination4    ,in reply to ,no4 #b1 ,i
 first refer to the author's eulogy on  
,mr4 ,hunter1 p4  #afc1 in which he is  
justly extolled for having 8surveyed the
 whole  system of organized beings1 from
 plants to man30 of course1 therefore1  
as a system2 and therefore under some   
one common law4 ,now in the  very same  
sense1 and no other1 than that in which 

the writer himself by  implication      
compares himself as a man to the        
dermestes typographicus1 or  the fucus  
scorpioides1 do ,i compare the principle
 of ,life to magnetism1  electricity1   
and constructive affinity1--or rather to
 that power to which  the two former are
 the thesis and antithesis1 the latter  
the synthesis4  ,but if to compare      
involve the sense of its etymon1 and    
involve the sense  of parity1 ,i utterly
 deny that ,i do at all compare them2   
and1 in truth1 in  no conceivable sense 
of the word is it applicable1 any more  
than a  geometrician can be affirmed to 
compare a polygon to a point1 because he
  generates the line out of the point4  
,the writer attributes to a philosophy  
essentially vital the barrenness of the 
mechanic system1 with which alone  his  
imagination has been familiarised1 and  
which1 as hath been justly  observed by 
a contemporary writer1 is               
contradistinguished from the former     
principally in this respect2 that       

demanding for every mode and act of     
existence real or possible visibility1  
it knows only of distance and  nearness1
 composition 7or rather compaction7 and 
decomposition1 in short1  the relations 
of unproductive particles to each other2
 so that in every  instance the result  
is the exact sum of the component       
qualities1 as in  arithmetical addition4
 ,this is the philosophy of ,death1 and 
only of a dead  nature can it hold good4
 ,in ,life1 and in the view of a vital  
philosophy1  the two component          
counter-powers actually interpenetrate  
each other1 and  generate a higher      
third1 including both the former1 8ita  
tamen ut sit alia  et major40    ,as a  
complete answer to ,no4 #c1 ,i refer the
 reader to many passages in the         
preceding and following pages1 in which1
 on far higher and more  demonstrative  
grounds than the mechanic system can    
furnish1 ,i have exposed  the           
unmeaningness and absurdity of these    
finer fluids1 as applied even to        

electricity itself2 unless1 indeed1 they
 are assumed as its product4 ,but  in   
addition ,i beg leave to remind the     
author1 that it is incomparably more    
agreeable to all experience to originate
 the formative process in the  fluid1   
whether fine or gross1 than in corporeal
 atoms1 in which we are  not only       
deserted by all experience1 but         
contradicted by the primary  conception 
of body itself4    ,equally inapplicable
 is ,no4 #d3 and of ,no4 #e ,i can only 
repeat1 first1 that  ,i do not make     
,life like magnetism1 or like           
electricity2 that the  difference       
between magnetism and electricity1 and  
the powers illustrated  by them1 is an  
essential part of my system1 but that   
the animal ,life of  man is the identity
 of all three4 ,to whatever other system
 this objection  may apply1 it is       
utterly irrelevant to that which ,i have
 here propounded3  though from the      
narrow limits prescribed to me1 it has  
been propounded  with an inadequacy     

painful to my own feelings4    ,the     
ridicule in ,no4 #f might be easily     
retorted2 but as it could prove         
nothing1 ,i will leave it where ,i found
 it1 in a page where nothing is  proved4
    ,a similar remark might be          
sufficient for the bold and blank       
assertion 7,no4  #g7 with which the     
extract concludes2 but that ,i feel some
 curiosity to  discover what meaning the
 author attaches to the term analogy4   
,analogy  implies a difference in sort1 
and not merely in degree2 and it is the 
sameness of the end1 with the difference
 of the means1 which constitutes        
analogy4 ,no one would say the lungs of 
a man were analogous to the lungs  of a 
monkey1 but any one might say that the  
gills of fish and the  spiracula of     
insects are analogous to lungs4 ,now if 
there be any  philosophers who have     
asserted that electricity as electricity
 is the  same as ,life1 for that reason 
they cannot be analogous to each other2 
and as no man in his senses1 philosopher

 or not1 is capable of imagining  that  
the lightning which destroys a sheep1   
was a means to the same end  with the   
principle of its organization2 for this 
reason1 too1 the two  powers cannot be  
represented as analogous4 ,indeed ,i    
know of no system in  which the word1 as
 thus applied1 would admit of an        
endurable meaning1 but  that which      
teaches us1 that a mass of marrow in the
 skull is analogous to  the rational    
soul1 which ,plato and ,bacon1 equally  
with the 8poor ,indian10  believe       
themselves to have received from the    
,supreme ,reason4    ,it would be       
blindness not to see1 or affectation to 
pretend not to see1  the work at which  
these sarcasms were levelled4 ,the      
author of that work is  abundantly able 
to defend his own opinions2 yet ,i      
should be ambitious to  address him at  
the close of the contest in the lines of
 the great ,roman  poet3    8,et nos    
tela1 ,pater1 ferrumque haud debile     
dextr  ,spargimus1 et nostro sequitur1  

de vulnere sanguis40    ,in ,mr4        
,abernethy's ,lecture on the ,theory of 
,life1 it is impossible not to  see a   
presentiment of a great truth4 ,he has1 
if ,i may so express myself1  caught it 
in the breeze3 and we seem to hear the  
first glad opening and  shout with which
 he springs forward to the pursuit4 ,but
 it is equally  evident that the prey   
has not been followed through its       
doublings and  windings1 or driven out  
from its brakes and covers into full and
 open  view4 ,many of the least tenable 
phrases may be fairly interpreted as    
illustrations1 rather than precise      
exponents of the author's meaning2 at   
least1 while they remain as a mere      
suggestion or annunciation of his       
ideas1 and till he has expanded them    
over a larger sphere1 it would be       
unjust to infer the contrary4 ,but it is
 not with men1 however strongly  their  
professional merits may entitle them to 
reverence1 that my concern  is at       
present4 ,if the opinions here supported

 are the same with those of  ,mr4       
,abernethy1 ,i rejoice in his authority4
 ,if they are different1 ,i shall  wait 
with an anxious interest for an         
exposition of that difference4          
,having reasserted that ,i no more      
confound magnetism with electricity1 or 
the chemical process1 than the          
mathematician confounds length with     
breadth1 or either with depth2 ,i think 
it sufficient to add that there are  two
 views of the subject1 the former of    
which ,i do not believe  attributable to
 any philosopher1 while both are alike  
disclaimed by me as  forming any part of
 my views4 ,the first is that which is  
supposed to  consider electricity       
identical with life1 as it subsists in  
organized  bodies4 ,the other considers 
electricity as everywhere present1 and  
penetrating all bodies under the image  
of a subtile fluid or substance1  which1
 in ,mr4 ,abernethy's inquiry1 ,i regard
 as little more than a mere  diagram on 
his slate1 for the purpose of fixing the

 attention on the  intellectual         
conception1 or as a possible product1   
7in which case  electricity must be a   
composite power17 or at worst1 as words 
qu humana  incuria fudit4 ,this which1  
in inanimate ,nature1 is manifested now 
as  magnetism1 now as electricity1 and  
now as chemical agency1 is supposed1 on 
entering an organized body1 to          
constitute its vital principle1         
something  in the same manner as the    
steam becomes the mechanic power of the 
steam-engine1 in consequence of its     
compression by the steam-engine2 or  as 
the breeze that murmurs                 
indistinguishably in the forest becomes 
the  element1 the substratum1 of melody 
in the olian harp1 and of consummate    
harmony in the organ4 ,now this         
hypothesis is as directly opposed to my 
view as supervention is to evolution1   
inasmuch as ,i hold the organized  body 
itself1 in all its marvellous           
contexture1 to be the ,,product and     
representant of the power which is here 

supposed to have supervened to it4  ,so 
far from admitting a transfer1 ,i do not
 admit it even in electricity  itself1  
or in the phenomena universally called  
electrical2 among other  points ,i      
ground my explanation of remote sympathy
 on the directly contrary  supposition4 
,but my opinions will be best explained 
by a rapid exemplification in the       
processes of ,nature1 from the first    
rudiments of individualized life in  the
 lowest classes of its two great poles1 
the vegetable and animal  creation1 to  
its crown and consummation in the human 
body2 thus  illustrating at once the    
unceasing polarity of life1 as the form 
of its  process1 and its tendency to    
progressive individuation as the law of 
its  direction4    ,among the           
conceptions1 of the mere ideal character
 of which the  philosopher is well      
aware1 and which yet become necessary   
from the  necessity of assuming a       
beginning2 the original fluidity of the 
planet is  the chief4 ,under some form  

or other it is expressed or implied in  
every  system of cosmogony and even of  
geology1 from ,moses to ,thales1 and    
from  ,thales to ,werner4 ,this         
assumption originates in the same law of
 mind that  gave rise to the prima      
materia of the ,peripatetic school4 ,in 
order to  comprehend and explain the    
forms of things1 we must imagine a state
  antecedent to form4 ,a chaos of       
heterogeneous substances1 such as our   
,milton has described1 is not only an   
impossible state 7for this may be       
equally true of every other attempt71   
but it is palpably impossible4 ,it      
presupposes1 moreover1 the thing it is  
intended to solve2 and makes that  an   
effect which had been called in as the  
explanatory cause4 ,the  requisite and  
only serviceable fiction1 therefore1 is 
the representation  of ,,chaos as one   
vast homogeneous drop6 ,in this sense it
 may be even  justified1 as an          
appropriate symbol of the great         
fundamental truth that  all things      

spring from1 and subsist in1 the endless
 strife between  indifference and       
difference4 ,the whole history of       
,nature is comprised in  the            
specification of the transitional states
 from the one to the other4  ,the symbol
 only is fictitious3 the thing signified
 is not only grounded in  truth--it is  
the law and actuating principle of all  
other truths1 whether  physical or      
intellectual4    ,now1 by magnetism in  
its widest sense1 ,i mean the first and 
simplest  differential act of ,nature1  
as the power which works in length1 and 
produces the first distinction between  
the indistinguishable by the  generation
 of a line4 ,relatively1 therefore1 to  
fluidity1 that is1 to  matter1 the parts
 of which cannot be distinguished from  
each other by  figure1 magnetism is the 
power of fixity2 but1 relatively to     
itself1  magnetism1 like every other    
power in ,nature1 is designated by its  
opposite  poles1 and must be represented
 as the magnetic axis1 the northern pole

 of  which signifies rest1 attraction1  
fixity1 coherence1 or hardness2 the     
element of ,,earth in the nomenclature  
of observation and the ,,carbonic       
principle in that of experiment2 while  
the southern pole1 as its  antithesis1  
represents mobility1 repulsion1         
incoherence1 and fusibility2  the       
element of air in the nomenclature of   
observation 7that is1 of ,nature  as it 
appears to us when unquestioned by art71
 and azote or nitrogen in  the          
nomenclature of experiment 7that is1 of 
,nature in the state so  beautifully    
allegorized in the ,homeric fable of    
,proteus bound down1 and  forced to     
answer by ,ulysses1 after having been   
pursued through all his  metamorphoses  
into his ultimate form47#ad77 ,that     
nothing real does or can  exist         
corresponding to either pole            
exclusively1 is involved in the very    
definition of a ,,thing as the synthesis
 of opposing energies4 ,that a thing    
is1 is owing to the co-inherence therein

 of any two powers2 but that it  is that
 particular thing arises from the       
proportions in which these  powers are  
co-present1 either as predominance or as
 reciprocal  neutralization2 but under  
the modification of twofold power to    
which  magnetism itself is1 as the      
thesis to its antithesis4    ,the       
correspondent1 in the world of the      
senses1 to the magnetic axis1  exists in
 the series of metals4 ,the metalleity1 
as the universal base of  the planet1 is
 a necessary deduction from the         
principles of the system4  ,from the    
infusible1 though evaporable1 diamond to
 nitrogen itself1 the  metallic nature  
of which has been long suspected by     
chemists1 though still  under the       
mistaken notion of an oxyde1 we trace a 
series of metals from  the maximum of   
coherence to positive fluidity1 in all  
ordinary  temperatures1 we mean4        
,though1 in point of fact1 cold itself  
is but a  superinduction of the one     
pole1 or1 what amounts to the same      

thing1 the  subtraction of the other1   
under the modifications afore described2
 and  therefore are the metals          
indecomposible1 because they are        
themselves the  decompositions of the   
metallic axis1 in all its degrees of    
longitude and  latitude4 ,thus the      
substance of the planet from which it   
is1 is  metallic2 while that which is   
ever becoming1 is in like manner        
produced  through the perpetual         
modification of the first by the        
opposite forces of  the second2 that is1
 by the principle of contraction and    
difference at the  eastern extreme--the 
element of fire1 or the oxygen of the   
chemists2 and by  the elementary power  
of dilatation1 or universality at its   
western  extreme--the    of the         
ancients1 and the hydrogen of the       
laboratory4    ,it has been before      
noticed that the progress of ,nature is 
more truly  represented by the ladder1  
than by the suspended chain1 and that   
she  expands as by concentric circles4  

,this is1 indeed1 involved in the very  
conception of individuation1 whether it 
be applied to the different  species or 
to the individuals4 ,in what manner the 
evident interspace is  reconciled with  
the equally evident continuity of the   
life of ,nature1 is a  problem that can 
be solved by those minds alone1 which   
have intuitively  learnt that the whole 
actual life of ,nature originates in the
 existence1  and consists in the        
perpetual reconciliation1 and as        
perpetual resurgency  of the primary    
contradiction1 of which universal       
polarity is the result  and the         
exponent4 ,from the first moment of the 
differential impulse--7the  primval     
chemical epoch of the ,wernerian        
school7--when ,nature1 by the  tranquil 
deposition of crystals1 prepared1 as it 
were1 the fulcrum of her  after-efforts1
 from this1 her first1 and in part      
irrevocable1  self-contraction1 we find1
 in each ensuing production1 more and   
more  tendency to independent existence 

in the increasing multitude of strata1  
and in the relics of the lowest orders1 
first of vegetable and then of  animal  
life4 ,in the schistous formations1     
which we must here assume as in  great  
measure the residua of vegetable        
creations1 that have sunk back into  the
 universal life1 and in the later       
predominant calcareous masses1 which    
are the caput mortuum of animalized     
existence1 we ascend from the laws  of  
attraction and repulsion1 as united in  
gravity1 to magnetism1  electricity1 and
 constructive power1 till we arrive at  
the point  representative of a new and  
far higher intensity4 ,for from this    
point  flow1 as in opposite directions1 
the two streams of vegetation and       
animalization1 the former characterised 
by the predominance of magnetism  in its
 highest power1 as reproduction1 the    
other by electricity  intensified--as   
irritability1 in like manner4 ,the      
vegetable and animal  world are the     
thesis and antithesis1 or the opposite  

poles of organic  life4 ,we are not1    
therefore1 to seek in either for        
analogies to the other1  but for        
counterpoints4 ,on the same account1 the
 nearer the common source1  the greater 
the likeness2 the farther the remove1   
the greater the  opposition4 ,at the    
extreme limits of inorganic ,nature1 we 
may detect a dim  and obscure prophecy  
of her ensuing process in the twigs and 
rude  semblances that occur in          
crystallization of some of the copper   
ores1 and  in the well-known arbor      
,dian1 and arbor ,veneris4 ,these latter
 ,ritter  has already ably explained by 
considering the oblique branches and    
their  acute angles as the result of    
magnetic repulsion1 from the            
presentation of  the same poles1 c4 ,in 
the ,,corals and ,,conchylia1 the whole 
act and purpose  of their existence     
seems to be that of connecting the      
animal with the  inorganic world by the 
perpetual formation of calcareous earth4
 ,for the  corals are nothing but       

polypi1 which are characterised by still
 passing  away and dissolving into the  
earth1 which they had previously        
excreted1 as  if they were the first    
feeble effort of detachment4 ,the power 
seems to  step forward from out the     
inorganic world only to fall back again 
upon it1  still1 however1 under a new   
form1 and under the predominance of the 
more  active pole of magnetism4 ,the    
product must have the same connexion1   
therefore1 with azote1 which the first  
rudiments of vegetation have with       
carbon3 the one and the other exist not 
for their own sakes1 but in order  to   
produce the conditions best fitted for  
the production of higher forms4  ,in the
 polypi1 corallines1 c41 individuality  
is in its first dawn2 there  is the same
 shape in them all1 and a multitude of  
animals form1 as it  were1 a common     
animal4 ,and as the individuals run into
 each other1 so do  the different       
genera4 ,they likewise pass into each   
other so  indistinguishably1 that the   

whole order forms a very network4    ,as
 the corals approach the conchylia1 this
 interramification decreases4  ,the     
tubipora forms the transition to the    
serpula2 for the characteristic  of all 
zoophytes1 namely1 the star shape of    
their openings1 here  disappears1 and   
the tubipor are distinguished from the  
rest of the corals  by this very        
circumstance1 that the hollow calcareous
 pipes are placed  side by side1 without
 interbranching4 ,in the serpula they   
have already  become separate4 ,how     
feeble this attempt is to individuate1  
is most  clearly shown in their mode of 
generation4 ,notwithstanding the report 
of  ,professor ,pallas1 it still remains
 doubtful whether there exists any      
actual copulation among the polypi4 ,the
 mere existence of a polypus  suffices  
for its endless multiplication4 ,they   
may be indefinitely  propagated by      
cuttings1 so languid is the power of    
individuation1 so  boundless that of    
reproduction4 ,but the delicate jelly   

dissolves1 as  lightly as it was formed1
 into its own product1 and it is        
probable that  the ,polynesia1 as a     
future continent1 will be the gigantic  
monument1 not  so much of their life1 as
 of the life of ,nature in them4 ,here  
we may  observe the first instance of   
that general law1 according to which    
,nature  still assimilates her extreme  
points4 ,in these1 her first and        
feeblest  attempts to animalize         
organization1 it is latent1 because     
undeveloped1 and  merely potential2     
while1 in the human brain1 the last and 
most consummate  of her combined        
energies1 it is again lost or disguised 
in the  subtlety7#ae7 and multiplicity  
of its evolution4    ,in the class      
immediately above 7,mollusca7 we find   
the individuals  separate1 a more       
determinate form1 and in the higher     
species1 the rudiment  of nerves1 as the
 first scarce distinguishable impress   
and exponent of  sensibility2 still1    
however1 the vegetative reproduction is 

the  predominant form2 and even the     
nerves 8which float in the same cavity  
with  the other viscera10 are probably  
subservient to it1 and extend their     
power  in the increased intensity of the
 reproductive force4 ,still prevails the
  transitional state from the fluid to  
the solid2 and the jelly1 that  rudiment
 in which all animals1 even the noblest1
 have their commencement2  constitutes  
the whole sphere of these rudimental    
animals4    ,in the snail and muscle1   
the residuum of the coral reappears1 but
 refined  and ennobled into a part of   
the animal4 ,the whole class is         
characterised  by the separation of the 
fluid from the solid4 ,on the one side1 
a  gelatinous semi-fluid2 on the other  
side1 an entirely inorganic1 though     
often a most exquisitely mechanised1    
calcareous excretion4    ,animalization 
in general is1 we know1                 
contra-distinguished from vegetables  in
 general by the predominance of azote in
 the chemical composition1 and  of      

irritability in the organic process4    
,but in this and the foregoing  classes1
 as being still near the common equator1
 or the punctum  indifferenti1 the      
carbonic principle still asserts its    
claims1 and the  force of reproduction  
struggles with that of irritability4 ,in
 the  unreconciled strife of these two  
forces consists the character of the    
,vermes1 which appear to be the         
preparatory step for the next class4    
,hence the difficulties which have      
embarrassed the naturalists1 who adopt  
the ,linnan classification1 in their    
endeavours to discover determinate      
characters of distinction between the   
vermes and the insecta4    ,but no      
sooner have we passed the borders1 than 
endless variety of form and  the bold   
display of instincts announce1 that     
,nature has succeeded4 ,she has  created
 the intermediate link between the      
vegetable world1 as the product  of the 
reproductive or magnetic power1 and the 
animal as the exponent of  sensibility4 

,those that live and are nourished1 on  
the bodies of other  animals1 are       
comparatively few1 with little diversity
 of shape1 and almost  all of the same  
natural family4 ,these we may pass by as
 exceptions4 ,but  the insect world1    
taken at large1 appears as an intenser  
life1 that has  struggled itself loose  
and become emancipated from vegetation1 
,flor  liberti1 et libertini6 ,if for   
the sake of a moment's relaxation we    
might  indulge a ,darwinian flight1     
though at the risk of provoking a smile1
 7not1  ,i hope1 a frown7 from sober    
judgment1 we might imagine the life of  
insects  an apotheosis of the petals1   
stamina1 and nectaries1 round which they
  flutter1 or of the stems and pedicles1
 to which they adhere4 ,beyond and      
above this step1 ,nature seems to act   
with a sort of free agency1 and to  have
 formed the classes from choice and     
bounty4 ,had she proceeded no  further1 
yet the whole vegetable1 together with  
the whole insect creation1  would have  

formed within themselves an entire and  
independent system of  ,life4 ,all      
plants have insects1 most commonly each 
genus of vegetables its  appropriate    
genera of insects2 and so reciprocally  
interdependent and  necessary to each   
other are they1 that we can almost as   
little think of  vegetation without     
insects1 as of insects without          
vegetation4 ,though  probably the mere  
likeness of shape1 in the papilio1 and  
the  papilionaceous plants1 suggested   
the idea of the former1 as the latter in
  a state of detachment1 to our late    
poetical and theoretical brother2 yet a 
something1 that approaches to a graver  
plausibility1 is given to this  fancy of
 a flying blossom2 when we reflect how  
many plants depend upon  insects for    
their fructification4 ,be it remembered1
 too1 that with few and  very obscure   
exceptions1 the irritable power and an  
analogon of voluntary  motion first dawn
 on us in the vegetable world1 in the   
stamina1 and  anthers1 at the period of 

impregnation4 ,then1 as if ,nature had  
been  encouraged by the success of the  
first experiment1 both the one and the  
other appear as predominance and general
 character4 ,,the ,,insect ,,world ,,is 
,,the ,,exponent ,,of ,,irritability1   
,,as ,,the ,,vegetable ,,is ,,of        
,,reproduction4    ,with the ascent in  
power1 the intensity of individuation   
keeps even pace2  and from this we may  
explain all the characteristic          
distinctions between  this class and    
that of the vermes4 ,the almost         
homogeneous jelly of the  animalcula    
infusoria became1 by a vital oxydation1 
granular in the polypi4  ,this          
granulation formed itself into distinct 
organs in the mollusc2 while  for the   
snails1 which are the next step1 the    
animalized lime1 that seemed  the sole  
final cause of the life of the polypi1  
assumes all the characters  of an       
ulterior purpose4 ,refined into a       
horn-like substance1 it becomes to  the 
snails the substitute of an organ1 and  

their outward skeleton4 ,yet how  much  
more manifold and definite1 the         
organization of an insect1 than that  of
 the preceding class1 the patient       
researches of ,swammerdam and ,lyonnet  
have evinced1 to the delight and        
admiration of every reflecting mind4    
,in the insect1 for the first time1 we  
find the distinct commencement of a     
separation between the exponents of     
sensibility and those of irritability2  
i4e4 between the nervous and the        
muscular system4 ,the latter1  however1 
asserts its pre-eminence throughout4    
,the prodigal provision of  organs for  
the purposes of respiration1 and the    
marvellous powers which  numerous tribes
 of insects possess1 of accommodating   
the most corrupted  airs1 for a longer  
or shorter period1 to the support of    
their  excitability1 would of itself    
lead us to presume1 that here the vis   
irritabilis is the reigning dynasty4    
,there is here no confluence of  nerves 
into one reservoir1 as evidence of the  

independent existence of  sensibility as
 sensibility2--and therefore no         
counterpoise of a vascular  system1 as a
 distinct exponent of the irritable     
pole4 ,the whole  muscularity of these  
animals1 is the organ of irritability2  
and the nerves  themselves are probably 
feeders of the motory power4 ,the petty 
rills of  sensibility flow into the full
 expanse of irritability1 and there lose
  themselves4 ,the nerves appertaining  
to the senses1 on the other hand1 are   
indistinct1 and comparatively           
unimportant4 ,the multitude of immovable
 eyes  appear not so much conductors of 
light1 as its ultimate recipient4 ,we   
are  almost tempted to believe that they
 constitute1 rather than subserve1      
their sensorium4    ,these eye-facets   
form the sense of light1 rather than    
organs of seeing4  ,their almost        
paradoxical number at least1 and the    
singularity of their  forms1 render it  
probable that they impel the animal by  
some modification  of its irritability1 

herein likewise containing a striking   
analogy to the  known influence of light
 on plants1 than as excitements of      
sensibility4  ,the sense that is nearest
 akin to irritability1 and which alone  
resides in  the muscular system1 is that
 of touch1 or feeling4 ,this1 therefore1
 is the  first sense that emerges4      
,being confined to absolute contact1 it 
occupies  the lowest rank2 but for that 
very reason it is the ground of all the 
other senses1 which act1 according to   
the ratio of their ascent1 at still     
increasing distances1 and become more   
and more ideal1 from the tentacles  of  
the polypus1 to the human eye2 which    
latter might be defined the  outward    
organ of the identity1 or at least of   
the indifference1 of the  real and      
ideal4 ,but as the calcareous residuum  
of the lowest class  approaches to the  
nature of horn in the snail1 so the     
cumbrous shell of  the snail has been   
transformed into polished and moveable  
plates of  defensive armour in the      

insect4 ,thus1 too1 the same power of   
progressive  individuation articulates  
the tentacula of the polypus and        
holothuria into  antenn2 thereby        
manifesting the full emersion and       
eminency of  irritability as a power    
which acts in1 and gives its own        
character to1  that of reproduction4    
,the least observant must have noticed  
the  lightning-like rapidity with which 
the insect tribes devour and eliminate  
their food1 as by an instinctive        
necessity1 and in the least degree for  
the purposes of the animal's own growth 
or enlargement4 ,the same  predominance 
of irritability1 and at the same time a 
new start in  individuation1 is shown in
 the reproductive power as generation4  
,there is  now a regular projection1 ab 
intra ad extra1 for which neither       
sprouts  nor cuttings can any longer be 
the substitutes4 ,we have not space for 
further detail2 but there is one point  
too strikingly illustrative and  even   
confirmative of the proposed system1 to 

be omitted altogether4 ,we  mean the    
curious fact1 that the same             
characteristic tendency1 ad extra1      
which in the males and females of       
certain insect tribes is realized in the
  functions of generation1 conception1  
and parturiency1 manifests and  expands 
itself in the sexless individuals 7which
 are always in this case  the great     
majority of the species71 as instincts  
of art1 and in the  construction of     
works completely detached and inorganic2
 while the  geometric regularity of     
these works1 which bears an analogy to  
crystallization1 is demonstrably no more
 than the necessary result of  uniform  
action in a compressed multitude4       
,again1 as the insect world1 averaging  
the whole1 comes nearest to plants1     
7whose very essence is reproduction17 in
 the multitude of their germs2 so  does 
it resemble plants in the sufficiency of
 a single impregnation for  the         
evolution of myriads of detached lives4 
,even so1 the metamorphoses of  insects1

 from the egg to the maggot and         
caterpillar1 and from these1  through   
the nympha and aurelia into the perfect 
insect1 are but a more  individuated and
 intenser form of a similar             
transformation of the plant  from the   
seed-leaflets1 or cotyledons1 through   
the stalk1 the leaves1 and  the calyx1  
into the perfect flower1 the various    
colours of which seem made  for the     
reflection of light1 as the antecedent  
grade to the burnished  scales1 and     
scale-like eyes of the insect4          
,nevertheless1 with all this  seeming   
prodigality of organic power1 the whole 
tendency is ad extra1  and the life of  
insects1 as electricity in the quadrate1
 acts chiefly on  the superficies of    
their bodies1 to which we may add the   
negative proof  arising from the absence
 of sensibility4 ,it is well known1 that
 the two  halves of a divided insect    
have continued to perform1 or attempt1  
each  their separate functions1 the     
trunkless head feeding with its         

accustomed  voracity1 while the headless
 trunk has exhibited its appropriate    
excitability to the sexual influence4   
,the intropulsive force1 that sends the 
ossification inward as to the  centre1  
is reserved for a yet higher step1 and  
this we find embodied in  the class of  
fishes4 ,even here1 however1 the process
 still seems  imperfect1 and 7as it     
were7 initiatory4 ,the skeleton has left
 the surface1  indeed1 but the bones    
approach to the nature of gristle4 ,to  
feel the truth  of this1 we need only   
compare the most perfect bone of a fish 
with the  thigh-bones of the mammalia1  
and the distinctness with which the     
latter  manifest the co-presence of the 
magnetic power in its solid parietes1 of
  the electrical in its branching       
arteries1 and of the third greatest     
power1 viz41 the qualitative and        
interior1 in its marrow4 ,the senses of 
fish are more distinct than those of    
insects4 ,thus1 the intensity of its    
sense of smell has been placed beyond   

doubt1 and rises in the extent of  its  
sphere far beyond the irritable sense1  
or the feeling1 in insects4 ,i  say the 
feeling1 not the touch2 for the touch   
seems1 as it were1 a  supervention to   
the feeling1 a perfection given to it by
 the reaction of  the higher powers4 ,as
 the feeling of the insect1 in subtlety 
and virtual  distance1 rises above the  
solitary sense of taste7#af7 in the     
mollusca1 so  does the smell of the fish
 rise above the feeling of the insect4  
,in the  fish1 likewise1 the eyes are   
single and moveable1 while it is        
remarkable  that the only insect that   
possesses this latter privilege1 is an  
inhabitant of the waters4 ,finally1 here
 first1 unequivocally1 and on a  large  
scale1 7for ,i pretend not to control   
the freedom1 in which the  necessity of 
,nature is rooted1 by the precise limits
 of a system17--here  first1 ,nature    
exhibits1 in the power of sensibility1  
the consummation of  those vital forms  
7the nisus formativi7 the adequate and  

the sole  measure of which is to be     
sought for in their several organic     
products4  ,but as if a weakness of     
exhaustion had attended this advance in 
the same  moment it was made1 ,nature   
seems necessitated to fall back1 and    
re-exert  herself on the lower ground   
which she had before occupied1 that of  
the  vital magnetism1 or the power of   
reproduction4 ,the intensity of this    
latter power in the fishes1 is shown    
both in their voracity and in the       
number of their eggs1 which we are      
obliged to calculate by weight1 not  by 
tale4 ,there is an equal intensity both 
of the immanent and the  projective     
reproduction1 in which1 if we take in   
the comparative number  of individuals  
in each species1 and likewise the       
different intervals  between the acts1  
the fish 7it is probable7 would be found
 to stand in a  similar relation to the 
insect1 as the insect1 in the latter    
point1 stands  to the system of         
vegetation4 ,meantime1 the fish sinks a 

step below the  insect1 in the mode and 
circumstances of impregnation4 ,to this 
we will  venture to add1 the            
predominance of length1 as the form of  
growth in  so large a proportion of the 
known orders of fishes1 and not less of 
their  rectilineal path of motion4 ,in  
all other respects1 the correspondence  
combined with the progress in           
individuation1 is striking in the whole 
detail4 ,thus the eye1 in addition to   
its moveability1 has besides acquired  a
 saline moisture in its higher          
development1 as accordant with the life 
of  its element4 ,add to these the      
glittering covering in both1 the        
splendour  of the scales in the one     
answering to the brilliant plates in the
  other1--the luminous reservoirs of the
 fire-flies1--the phosphorescence and   
electricity of many fishes1--the same   
analogs of moral qualities1 in their    
rapacity1 boldness1 modes of seizing    
their prey by surprise1--their gills1   
as presenting the intermediate state    

between the spiracula of the grade  next
 below1 and the lungs of the step next  
above1 both extremes of which  seem     
combined in the structure of birds and  
of their quill-feathers2 but  above all1
 the convexity of the crystalline lens1 
so much greater than in  birds1         
quadrupeds1 and man1 and seeming to     
collect1 in one powerful organ1  the    
hundred-fold microscopic facettes of the
 insect's light organs2 and  it will not
 be easy to resist the conviction1 that 
the same power is at  work in both1 and 
reappears under higher auspices4 ,the   
intention of ,nature  is repeated2 but1 
as was to have been expected1 with two  
main differences4    ,first1 that in the
 lower grade the reproductions          
themselves seem merged in  those of     
irritability1 from the very circumstance
 that the latter  constitutes no pole1  
either to the former1 or to sensibility4
 ,the force of  irritability acts1      
therefore1 in the insect world1 in full 
predominance2  while the emergence of   

sensibility in the fish calls forth the 
opposite  pole of reproduction1 as a    
distinct power1 and causes therefore the
  irritability to flow1 in part1 into   
the power of reproduction4 ,the second  
result of this ascent is the direction  
of the organizing power1 ad  intra1 with
 the consequent greater simplicity of   
the exterior form1 and  the substitution
 of condensed and flexible force1 with  
comparative unity  of implements1 for   
that variety of tools1 almost as        
numerous as the  several objects to     
which they are to be applied1 which     
arises from1 and  characterises1 the    
superficial life of the insect creation4
 ,this grade of  ascension1 however1    
like the former1 is accompanied by an   
apparent  retrograde movement4 ,for from
 this very accession of vital intensity 
we  must account for the absence in the 
fishes of all the formative1 or rather  
7if our language will permit it7        
fabricative instincts4 ,how could it be 
otherwise8 ,these instincts are the     

surplus and projection of the           
organizing power in the direction ad    
extra1 and could not1 therefore1  have  
been expected in the class of animals   
that represent the first  intuitive     
effort of organization1 and are         
themselves the product of its  first    
movement in the direction ad intra4 ,but
 ,nature never loses what  she has once 
learnt1 though in the acquirement of    
each new power she  intermits1 or       
performs less energetically1 the act    
immediately preceding4  ,she often drops
 a faculty1 but never fails to pick it  
up again4 ,she may  seem forgetful and  
absent1 but it is only to recollect     
herself with  additional1 as well as    
recruited vigour1 in some after and     
higher  state2 as if the sleep of       
powers1 as well as of bodies1 were the  
season  and condition of their growth4  
,accordingly1 we find these instincts   
again1  and with them a wonderful       
synthesis of fish and insect1 as a      
higher third1  in the feathered         

inhabitants of the air4 ,nay1 she seems 
to have gone yet  further back1 and     
having given ,b  ,c  ,d in the birds1 so
 to have sported  with one solitary     
instance of ,b  ,d  ,a in that curious  
animal the dragon1  the anatomy of which
 has been recently given to the public  
by ,tiedemann2  from whose work it      
appears1 that this creature presents    
itself to us with  the wings of the     
insect1 and with the nervous system1 the
 brain1 and the  cranium of the bird1 in
 their several rudiments4    ,the       
synthesis of fish and insect in the     
birds1 might be illustrated  equally in 
detail with the former2 but it will be  
sufficient for our  purpose1 that as in 
both the former cases1 the insect and   
the fish1 so  here in that of the birds1
 the powers are under the predominance  
of  irritability2 the sensibility being 
dormant in the first1 awakening in the  
second1 and awake1 but still            
subordinate1 in the third4 ,of this my  
limits  confine me to a single          

presumptive proof1 viz41 the superiority
 in  strength and courage of the female 
in the birds of prey4 ,for herein1      
indeed1 does the difference of the sexes
 universally consist1 wherever  both the
 forces are developed1 that the female  
is characterised by quicker             
irritability1 and the male by deeper    
sensibility4 ,how large a stride has    
been now made by ,nature in the progress
 of individuation1 what  ornithologist  
does not know8 ,from a multitude of     
instances we select the  most           
impressive1 the power of sound1 with the
 first rudiments of  modulation6 ,that  
all languages designate the melody of   
birds as singing  7though according to  
,blumenbach man only sings1 while birds 
do but  whistle71 demonstrates that it  
has been felt as1 what indeed it is1 a  
tentative and prophetic prelude of      
something yet to come4 ,with this       
conjoin the power and the tendency to   
acquire articulation1 and to imitate    
speech2 conjoin the building instinct   

and the migratory1 the monogamy of      
several species1 and the pairing of     
almost all2 and we shall have  collected
 new instances of the usage 7,i dare not
 say law7 according to  which ,nature   
lets fall1 in order to resume1 and steps
 backward the  furthest1 when she means 
to leap forwards with the greatest      
concentration  of energy4    ,for lo6 in
 the next step of ascent the power of   
sensibility has assumed  her due place  
and rank3 her minority is at an end1 and
 the complete and  universal presence of
 a nervous system unites absolutely1 by 
instanteity  of time what1 with the due 
allowances for the transitional process1
 had  before been either lost in        
sameness1 or perplexed by multiplicity1 
or  compacted by a finer mechanism4 ,but
 with this1 all the analogies with      
which ,nature had delighted us in the   
preceding step seem lost1 and1 with  the
 single exception of that more than     
valuable1 that estimable                
philanthropist1 the dog1 and1 perhaps1  

of the horse and elephant1 the          
analogies to ourselves1 which we can    
discover in the quadrupeds or           
quadrumani1 are of our vices1 our       
follies1 and our imperfections4 ,the    
facts in confirmation of both the       
propositions are so numerous and so     
obvious1 the advance of ,nature1 under  
the predominance of the third  synthetic
 power1 both in the intensity of life   
and in the intenseness and  extension of
 individuality1 is so undeniable1 that  
we may leap forward at  once to the     
highest realization and reconciliation  
of both her tendencies1  that of the    
most perfect detachment with the        
greatest possible union1 to  that last  
work1 in which ,nature did not assist as
 handmaid under the eye  of her         
sovereign ,master1 who made ,man in his 
own image1 by superadding               
self-consciousness with self-government1
 and breathed into him a living  soul4  
,the class of ,vermes deposit a         
calcareous stuff1 as if it had torn     

loose  from the earth a piece of the    
gross mass which it must still drag     
about  with it4 ,in the insect class    
this residuum has refined itself4 ,in   
the  fishes and amphibia it is driven   
back or inward1 the organic power begins
  to be intuitive1 and sensibility      
appears4 ,in the birds the bones have   
become hollow2 while1 with apparent     
proportional recess1 but1 in truth1 by  
the excitement of the opposite pole1    
their exterior presents an actual       
vegetation4 ,the bones of the mammalia  
are filled up1 and their coverings  have
 become more simple4 ,man possesses the 
most perfect osseous structure1  the    
least and most insignificant covering4  
,the whole force of organic  power has  
attained an inward and centripetal      
direction4 ,he has the whole  world in  
counterpoint to him1 but he contains an 
entire world within  himself4 ,now1 for 
the first time at the apex of the living
 pyramid1 it is  ,man and ,nature1 but  
,man himself is a syllepsis1 a          

compendium of ,nature--the  ,microcosm6 
,naked and helpless cometh man into the 
world4 ,such has been the  complaint    
from eldest time2 but we complain of our
 chief privilege1 our  ornament1 and the
 connate mark of our sovereignty4       
,porphyrigeniti sumus6  ,in ,man the    
centripetal and individualizing tendency
 of all ,nature is  itself concentred   
and individualized--he is a revelation  
of ,nature6  ,henceforward1 he is       
referred to himself1 delivered up to his
 own charge2  and he who stands the most
 on himself1 and stands the firmest1 is 
the  truest1 because the most           
individual1 ,man4 ,in social and        
political life  this acme is            
inter-dependence2 in moral life it is   
independence2 in  intellectual life it  
is genius4 ,nor does the form of        
polarity1 which has  accompanied the law
 of individuation up its whole ascent1  
desert it here4  ,as the height1 so the 
depth4 ,the intensities must be at once 
opposite and  equal4 ,as the liberty1 so

 must be the reverence for law4 ,as the 
independence1 so must be the service and
 the submission to the ,supreme  ,will6 
,as the ideal genius and the            
originality1 in the same proportion must
  be the resignation to the real world1 
the sympathy and the inter-communion    
with ,nature4 ,in the conciliating      
mid-point1 or equator1 does the ,man    
live1  and only by its equal presence in
 both its poles can that life be        
manifested6                             
99 99 99 99 99    ,if it had been       
possible1 within the prescribed limits  
of this essay1 to  have deduced the     
philosophy of ,life synthetically1 the  
evidence would have  been carried over  
from section to section1 and the quod   
erat  demonstrandum at the conclusion of
 one section would reappear as the      
principle of the succeeding--the goal of
 the one would be the starting-post  of 
the other4 ,positions arranged in my own
 mind1 as intermediate and  organic     
links of administration1 must be        

presented to the reader in the  first   
instance1 at least1 as a mere           
hypothesis4  ,instead of demanding his  
assent as a right1 ,i must solicit a    
suspension of his judgment as a         
courtesy2 and1 after all1 however firmly
 the hypothesis may support the         
phenomena piled upon it1 we can deduce  
no more than a practical rule1  grounded
 on a strong presumption4 ,the license  
of arithmetic1 however1  furnishes      
instances that a rule may be usefully   
applied in practice1 and  for the       
particular purpose may be sufficiently  
authenticated by the  result1 before it 
has itself been duly demonstrated4 ,it  
is enough1 if only  it hath been        
rendered fully intelligible4    ,in a   
system where every position proceeds    
from a scientific  preconstruction1 a   
power acting exclusively in length1     
would be magnetism  by virtue of our own
 definition of the term4 ,in like       
manner1 a surface  power would be       
electricity1 as far as that system was  

concerned1 whether  it accorded or not  
with the facts ordinarily so called4    
,but it is  incumbent on us1 who must   
treat the subject analytically1 to show 
by  experiment that magnetism does in   
fact act longitudinally1 and electricity
  superficially2 and that1 consequently1
 the former is distinguished from1  and 
yet contained in1 the latter1 as a      
straight line is distinguished  from1   
yet contained in1 a superficies4        
,first1 that magnetism1 in its          
conductors1 seeks and follows length    
only1  and by the length is itself      
conducted1 has been proved by ,brugmans1
 in his  philosophical ,essay on the    
,matter of ,magnetism1 where he relates 
that a  magnet capable of supporting a  
body four times heavier than itself1 and
  which acted as a magnetic needle at   
the distance of twenty inches1 was so   
weakened by the interposition of three  
cast-iron plates of considerable        
thickness1 as scarcely to move the      
magnetic needle from its place at a     

distance of only three inches4 ,a       
similar experiment had been made by     
,descartes4 ,i concluded1 therefore1    
said ,brugmans1 that if the iron plates 
were interposed between the magnet and  
the needle lengthways1 instead of       
breadthways or right across1 the action 
of the magnet on the magnetic  needle   
would1 in consequence of this great     
increase of resistance1 become  still   
weaker1 or perhaps evanescent4 ,but not 
less to my surprise than my  admiration1
 ,i found that the power of the magnet  
was so far from being  diminished by    
this change in the relative position of 
the iron-plates2  that1 on the contrary1
 it now extended to a far greater       
distance than when  no iron at all was  
interposed4 ,some time after the same   
philosopher1 out  of several iron bars1 
the sides of which were an inch broad   
each1 composed  a single bar of the     
length of more than ten feet1 and       
observed the  magnetism make its way    
through the whole mass4 ,but1 in order  

to try  whether the action could be     
propagated to any length indefinitely1  
after  several experiments with bars of 
intermediate lengths1 in all of which he
  had succeeded1 he tried a             
four-cornered iron rod1 more than twenty
 feet  long1 and it was at this length  
that the magnetic power first began to  
be  diminished4 ,so far ,brugmans4      
,but the shortest way for any one to    
convince himself of this relation of    
the magnetic power would be1 in one and 
the same experiment1 to interpose  the  
same piece of iron between the magnet   
and the compass needle first            
breadthways2 and in this case it will be
 found that the needle1 which  had been 
previously deflected by the magnet from 
its natural position at  one of its     
poles1 will instantly resume the same1  
either wholly or very  nearly so--then  
to interpose the same piece of iron     
lengthways2 in which  case the position 
of the compass needle will be scarcely  
or not at all  affected4    ,the        

assertion of ,bernoulli and others1 that
 the absolute force of the  artificial  
magnet increases in the ratio of its    
superficies1 stands  corrected in the   
far more accurate experiments of        
,coulomb 7published in  his ,treatise on
 ,magnetism71 which proves that the     
increase takes place 7in  a far greater 
degree7 in the ratio of its length4 ,the
 same naturalist even  found means to   
determine that the directing powers of  
the needle1 which he  had measured by   
help of his balance de tortion1 stand to
 the length of  the needle in such a    
ratio as that1 provided only the length 
of the needle  is from forty to fifty   
times its diameter1 the momenta of these
 directing  powers will increase in the 
very same direct proportion as the      
length is  increased4 ,nor is this all  
that may be deduced from the experiment 
last  mentioned4 ,if only the magnet be 
strong enough1 it will show likewise    
that  magnetism seeks the length4 ,the  
proof is contained in the remarkable    

fact1 that the iron interposed between  
the magnet and the magnetic needle      
breadthways constantly acquires its two 
opposite poles at both ends  lengthways4
 ,though the preceding experiments are  
abundantly sufficient  to prove the     
position1 yet the following deserves    
mention for the  beautiful clearness of 
its evidence4 ,if the magnetic power is 
determined  exclusively by length1 it is
 to be expected that it will manifest no
  force1 where the piece of iron is of  
such a shape that no one dimension      
predominates4 ,bring a cube of iron near
 the magnetic needle and it will  not   
exert the slightest degree of power     
beyond what belongs to it as mere  iron4
 ,by the perfect equality of the        
dimensions1 the magnetism of the  earth 
appears1 as it were1 perplexed and      
doubtful4 ,now1 then attach a  second   
cube of iron to the first1 and the      
instantaneous act of the iron on  the   
magnetic needle will make it manifest   
that with the length thus given1  the   

magnetic influence is given at the same 
moment4    ,that electricity1 on the    
other hand1 does not act in length      
merely1 is  clear1 from the fact that   
every electric body is electric over its
 whole  surface4 ,but that electricity  
acts both in length and breadth1 and    
only  in length and breadth1 and not in 
depth2 in short1 that the 7so-called7   
electrical fluid in an electrified body 
spreads over the whole surface of  that 
body without penetrating it1 or tending 
ad intra1 may be proved by  direct      
experiment4 ,take a cylinder of wood1   
and bore an indefinite number  of holes 
in it1 each of them four lines in depth 
and four in diameter4  ,electrify this  
cylinder1 and present to its superficies
 a small square of  gold-leaf1 held to  
it by an insulating needle of gum lac1  
and bring this  square to an            
electrometer of great sensibility4 ,the 
electrometer will  instantly show an    
electricity in the gold-leaf1 similar to
 that of the  cylinder which had been   

brought into contact with it4 ,the      
square of  gold-leaf having thus been   
discharged of its electricity1 put it   
carefully  into one of the holes of the 
cylinder1 so1 namely1 that it shall     
touch  only the bottom of the hole1 and 
present it again to the electrometer4   
,it  will be then found that the        
electrometer will exhibit no signs of   
electricity whatsoever4 ,from this it   
follows1 that the electricity which  had
 been communicated to the cylinder had  
confined itself to the  surface4    ,if 
the time and the limit prescribed would 
admit1 we could multiply  experiments1  
all tending to prove the same law2 but  
we must be content  with the barely     
sufficient4 ,but that the chemical      
process acts in  depth1 and first1      
therefore1 realizes and integrates the  
fluxional  power of magnetism and       
electricity1 is involved in the term    
composition2  and this will become still
 more convincing when we have learnt to 
regard  decomposition as a mere         

co-relative1 i4e4 as decomposition      
relatively  to the body decomposed1 but 
composition actually and in respect of  
the  substances1 into which it was      
decomposed4 ,the alteration in the      
specific  gravity of metals in their    
chemical amalgams1 interesting as the   
fact is  in all points1 is decisive in  
the present2 for gravity is the sole    
inward of inorganic bodies--it          
constitutes their depth4    ,i can now1 
for the first time1 give to my opinions 
that degree of  intelligibility1 which  
is requisite for their introduction as  
hypotheses2  the experiments above      
related1 understood as in the common    
mode of  thinking1 prove that the       
magnetic influence flows in length1 the 
electric  fluid by suffusion1 and that  
chemical agency 7whatever the main agent
 may  be7 is qualitative and in intimis4
 ,now my hypothesis demands the         
converse of all this4 ,i affirm that a  
power1 acting exclusively in length1  is
 7wherever it be found7 magnetism2 that 

a power which acts both in  length and  
in breadth1 and only in length and      
breadth1 is 7wherever it  be found7     
electricity2 and finally1 that a power  
which1 together with  length and        
breadth1 includes depth likewise1 is    
7wherever it be found7  constructive    
agency4 ,that is but one phenomenon of  
magnetism1 to which  we have            
appropriated and confined the term      
magnetism2 because of all the  natural  
bodies at present known1 iron1 and one  
or two of its nearest  relatives in the 
family of hard yet coherent metals1 are 
the only ones1 in  which all the        
conditions are collected1 under which   
alone the magnetic  agency can appear in
 and during the act itself4 ,when1      
therefore1 ,i affirm  the power of      
reproduction in organized bodies to be  
magnetism1 ,i must be  understood to    
mean that this power1 as it exists in   
the magnet1 and which  we there 7to use 
a strong phrase7 catch in the very act1 
is to the same  kind of power1 working  

as reproductive1 what the root is to the
 cube of  that root4 ,we no more        
confound the force in the compass needle
 with that  of reproduction1 than a man 
can be said to confound his liver with a
  lichen1 because he affirms that both  
of them grow4    ,the same precautions  
are to be repeated in the identification
 of  electricity with irritability2 and 
the power of depth1 for which we have   
yet no appropriated term1 with          
sensibility4 ,how great the distance is 
in  all1 and that the lowest degrees are
 adopted as the exponent terms1 not  for
 their own sakes1 but merely because    
they may be used with less hazard  of   
diverting the attention from the kind by
 peculiar properties arising  out of the
 degree1 is evident from the third      
instance1 unless the theorist  can be   
supposed insane enough to apply         
sensation in good earnest to the        
effervescence of an acid or an alkali1  
or to sympathise with the  distresses of
 a vat of new beer when it is working4  

,in whatever way the  subject could be  
treated1 it must have remained          
unintelligible to men who1  if they     
think of space at all1 abstract their   
notion of it from the  contents of an   
exhausted receiver4 ,with this1 and with
 an ether1 such men  may work wonders2  
as what1 indeed1 cannot be done with a  
plenum and a  vacuum1 when a theorist   
has privileged himself to assume the    
one1 or the  other1 ad libitum8--in all 
innocence of heart1 and undisturbed by  
the  reflection that the two things     
cannot both be true4 ,that both time and
  space are mere abstractions ,i am well
 aware2 but ,i know with equal          
certainty that what is expressed by them
 as the identity of both is  the highest
 reality1 and the root of all power1 the
 power to suffer1 as  well as the power 
to act4 ,however mere an ens logicum    
space may be1 the  dimensions of space  
are real1 and the works of ,galileo1 in 
more than one  elegant passage1 prove   
with what awe and amazement they fill   

the mind that  worthily contemplates    
them4 ,dismissing1 therefore1 all facts 
of degrees1  as introduced merely for   
the purposes of illustration1 ,i would  
make as  little reference as possible to
 the magnet1 the charged phial1 or the  
processes of the laboratory1 and        
designate the three powers in the       
process  of our animal life1 each by two
 co-relative terms1 the one expressing  
the  form1 and the other the object and 
product of the power4 ,my  hypothesis   
will1 therefore1 be thus expressed1 that
 the constituent forces  of life in the 
human living body are--first1 the power 
of length1 or  ,,reproduction2 second1  
the power of surface 7that is1 length   
and breadth71  or ,,irritability2 third1
 the power of depth1 or ,,sensibility4  
,with this  observation ,i may conclude 
these remarks1 only reminding the reader
 that  ,life itself is neither of these 
separately1 but the copula of all       
three--that ,life1 as ,life1 supposes a 
positive or universal principle in      

,nature1 with a negative principle in   
every particular animal1 the latter1  or
 limitative power1 constantly acting to 
individualize1 and1 as it were1  figure 
the former4 ,thus1 then1 ,life itself is
 not a thing--a  self-subsistent        
hypostasis--but an act and process2     
which1 pitiable  as the prejudice will  
appear to the forts esprits1 is a great 
deal more  than either my reason would  
authorise or my conscience allow me to  
assert--concerning the ,soul1 as the    
principle both of ,reason and           
,conscience4                            
,,advertisements4      ,october1 #ahdh4 
,works on ,medicine and ,science        
,published by ,john ,churchill4         
99 99 99 99 99    ,dr4 ,golding ,bird1  
,f4,r4,s4 ,the ,diagnosis1 ,pathological
 ,indications ,and  ,treatment of       
,urinary ,deposits4 ,with ,engravings on
 ,wood4 ,second ,edition4  ,post #hvo4  
cloth1 #hs4 #f;d4 ,by ,the ,same        
,author4 ,elements of ,natural          
,philosophy2 being an ,experimental     

,introduction to the ,study of the      
,physical ,sciences4 ,illustrated with  
several ,hundred ,wood-cuts4 ,third     
,edition4 ,fcap4 #hvo4 cloth1 #abs4     
#f;d4                                   
99 99 99 99 99    ,mr4 ,beasley4 ,the   
,pocket ,formulary and ,synopsis of ,the
 ,british ,and ,foreign  ,pharmacopias2 
comprising ,standard and ,improved      
,formul for the  ,preparations and      
,compounds employed in ,medical         
,practice4 ,fourth ,edition1  corrected 
and enlarged4 #ahmo4 cloth1 #fs4        
99 99 99 99 99    ,dr4 ,henry ,bennett4 
,a ,practical ,treatise on              
,inflammation1 ,ulceration1 ,and        
,induration of the ,neck of ,the        
,uterus2 with ,remarks on ,leucorrha and
  ,prolapsus ,uteri1 as ,symptoms of    
this form of ,disease4 #hvo4 cloth1 #fs4
                                    99  
99 99 99 99    ,dr4 ,budd1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,on
 ,diseases of the ,liver2 illustrated   
with ,coloured  ,plates and ,engravings 
on ,wood4 #hvo4 cloth1 #ads4            

99 99 99 99 99    ,sir ,james ,clark1   
,bart41 ,m4,d4 ,on ,the ,sanative       
,influence of ,climate4 ,with an        
,account of the best ,places of ,resort 
for ,invalids in ,england1 the ,south of
  ,europe1 c4 ,fourth ,edition1 revised4
 ,post #hvo4 #ajs4 #f;d4                
99 99 99 99 99    ,dr4 ,carpenter1      
,f4,r4,s4  ,a ,manual of ,physiology2   
specially designed for the ,use of      
,students4 ,with  numerous              
,illustrations on ,steel and ,wood4     
,fcap4 #hvo4 cloth1 #abs4 #f;d4  ,dr4   
,carpenter1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,principles of    
,general and ,comparative ,physiology2  
intended as an ,introduction to the     
,study of ,human ,physiology1 and as a  
,guide to the ,philosophical ,pursuit of
 ,natural ,history4 ,illustrated with   
numerous ,figures on ,copper and ,wood4 
,the ,second ,edition4 #hvo4 cloth1     
#ahs4 ,by ,the ,same ,author4           
,principles of ,human ,physiology4      
numerous  ,illustrations on ,steel and  
,wood4 ,third ,edition4 ,one thick #hvo4

 vol4 #bas4                             
99 99 99 99 99    ,sir ,astley ,cooper1 
,bart41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,a ,treatise on       
,dislocations and ,fractures  of the    
,joints4 ,edited by ,bransby b4 ,cooper1
 ,f4,r4,s4 #hvo4 cloth1 #bjs4 ,sir      
,astley ,cooper left very considerable  
additions in ,,ms4 for the express      
purpose of being introduced into this   
,edition4 ,by ,the ,same ,author4       
,observations on the ,structure and     
,diseases of the ,testis4 ,illustrated  
with  ,twenty-four highly-finished      
coloured ,plates4 ,second ,edition4     
,royal #dto4  cloth4 ,reduced from #cl4 
#cs4 to #al4 #ajs4                      
99 99 99 99 99    ,dr4 ,conolly4 ,the   
,construction and ,government of        
,lunatic ,asylums and  ,hospitals for   
the ,insane4 ,with ,plans1 post #hvo4   
cloth1 #fs4                             
99 99 99 99 99    ,mr4 ,cooley4         
,comprehensive ,supplement to the       
,pharmacopia ,the ,cyclopdia of         
,practical ,receipts1 and ,collateral   

,information in the ,arts1              
,manufactures1  and ,trades1 ,including 
,medicine1 ,pharmacy1 and ,domestic     
,economy2 designed  as a ,compendious   
,book of ,reference for the             
,manufacturer1 ,tradesman1  ,amateur1   
and ,heads of ,families4 ,second        
,edition1 in one thick volume of #hjj   
pages4 #hvo4 cloth1 #ads4               
99 99 99 99 99    ,mr4 ,fergusson1      
,f4,r4,s4,e4 ,a ,system of ,practical   
,surgery2 with numerous  ,illustrations 
on ,wood4 ,second ,edition4 ,fcap4 #hvo4
 cloth1 #abs4 #f;d4 ,mr4  ,churchill's  
,publications4 ,mr4 ,fownes1 ,,ph4 ,d41 
,f4,r4,s4 ,a ,manual of  ,chemistry2    
with numerous ,illustrations on ,wood4  
,second ,edition4 ,fcap4 #hvo4  cloth1  
#abs4 #f;d4 8,an admirable exposition of
 the present state of  chemical science1
 simply and clearly written40--,british 
and ,foreign  ,medical ,review4 ,by ,the
 ,same ,author4 ,introduction to        
,qualitative ,analysis4  ,post #hvo4    
cloth1 #bs4              ,,footnotes    

#a ,mr4 ,abernethy4        #b           
,experiment1 as an organ of reason1 not 
less distinguished from the        blind
 or dreaming industry of the alchemists1
 than it was        successfully opposed
 to the barren subtleties of the        
schoolmen4        #c ,whose own mind1   
however1 was not comprehended in the    
vortex2 where        ,kepler erred it   
was in the other extreme4        #d ,but
 still less would ,i avail myself of its
 acknowledged        inappropriateness  
to the purposes of physiology1 in order 
to cast a        self-complacent sneer  
on the soul itself1 and on all who      
believe in        its existence4 ,first1
 because in my opinion it would be      
impertinent2        secondly1 because it
 would be imprudent and injurious to the
        character of my profession2 and1
 lastly1 because it would argue an      
irreverence to the feelings of mankind1 
which ,i deem scarcely        compatible
 with a good heart1 and a degree of     
arrogance and        presumption which  

,i have never found1 except in company  
with a        corrupt taste and a       
shallow capacity4        #e ,vide       
,lawrence's ,lecture4        #f ,joh4   
,bapt4 a ,vico1 ,neapol4 ,reg4 eloq4    
,professor1 de antiquissima             
,itallorum sapientia ex lingua ,latina  
originibus aruend3 libri tres4          
,neap41 #agaj4        #g ,the object ,i 
have proposed to myself1 and wherein its
 distinction        exists1 may be thus 
illustrated4 ,a complex machine is      
presented to        the common view1 the
 moving power of which is hidden4 ,of   
those who        are studying and       
examining it1 one man fixes his         
attention on some        one application
 of that power1 on certain effects      
produced by that        particular      
application1 and on a certain part of   
the structure        evidently          
appropriated to the production of these 
effects1 neither        the one or other
 of which he had discovered in a        
neighbouring        machine1 which he at

 the same time asserts to be quite      
distinct from        the former1 and to 
be moved by a power altogether          
different1 though        many of the    
works and operations are1 he admits1    
common to both        machines4 ,in this
 supposed peculiarity he places the     
essential        character of the former
 machine1 and defines it by the presence
 of        that which is1 or which he   
supposes to be1 absent in the latter4   
,supposing that a stranger to both were 
about to visit the two        machines1 
this peculiarity would be so far useful 
as that it might        enable him to   
distinguish the one from the other1 and 
thus to look        in the proper place 
for whatever else he had heard          
remarkable        concerning either2 not
 that he or his informant would         
understand the        machine any better
 or otherwise1 than the common character
 of a        whole class in the         
nomenclature of botany would enable a   
person to        understand all1 or any 

one of the plants contained in that     
class4        ,but if1 on the other     
hand1 the machine in question were such 
as no        man was a stranger to1 if  
even the supposed peculiarity1 either by
        its effects1 or by the          
construction of that portion of the     
works        which produced them1 were  
equally well known to all men1 in this  
case we can conceive no use at all of   
such a definition2 for at the           
best it could only be admitted as a     
definition for the purposes of          
nomenclature1 which never adds to       
knowledge1 although it may often        
facilitate its communication4 ,but in   
this instance it would be               
nomenclature misplaced1 and without an  
object4 ,such appears to me to        be
 the case with all those definitions    
which place the essence of        ,life 
in nutrition1 contractility1 c4 ,as the 
second instance1 ,i will        take the
 inventor and maker of the machine      
himself1 who knows its        moving    

power1 or perhaps himself constitutes   
it1 who is1 as it were1        the soul 
of the work1 and in whose mind all its  
parts1 with all        their bearings   
and relations1 had pre-existed long     
before the        machine itself had    
been put together4 ,in him therefore    
there would        reside1 what it would
 be presumption to attempt to acquire1  
or to        pretend to communicate1 the
 most perfect insight not only of the   
machine itself1 and of all its various  
operations1 but of its        ultimate  
principle and its essential causes4 ,the
 mysterious ground1        the efficient
 causes of vitality1 and whether        
different lives differ        absolutely
 or only in degree1 ,he alone can know  
who not only said1        8,let the     
earth bring forth the living creature1  
the beast of the        earth after his 
kind1 and it was so20 but who said1     
8,let us make man        in our image1  
who himself breathed into his nostrils  
the breath of        ,life1 and man     

became a living soul40          ,the    
third case which ,i would apply to my   
own attempt would be that        of the 
inquirer1 who1 presuming to know nothing
 of the power that        moves the     
whole machine1 takes those parts of it  
which are presented        to his view1 
seeks to reduce its various movements to
 as few and        simple laws of motion
 as possible1 and out of their separate 
and        conjoint action proceeds to  
explain and appropriate the structure   
and relative positions of the works4 ,in
 obedience to the                       
canon1--8,principia non esse            
multiplicanda prter summam necessitatem 
cui suffragamur non ideo quia causalem  
in mundo unitatem vel ratione        vel
 experienti perspiciamus1 sed illam     
ipsam indagamus impulsu                 
intellects1 qui tantundem sibi in       
explicatione phnomenorum                
profecisse videtur quantum ab codem     
principio ad plurima rationata          
descendere ipsi concessum est40         

#h ,the arborescent forms on a frosty   
morning1 to be seen on the window       
and pavement1 must have some relation to
 the more perfect forms        developed
 in the vegetable world4        #i ,thus
 we may say that whatever is organized  
from without1 is a        product of    
mechanism2 whatever is mechanised from  
within1 is a        production of       
organization4       #aj 8,the matter    
that surrounds us is divided into two   
great classes1        living and dead2  
the latter is governed by physical laws1
 such as        attraction1 gravitation1
 chemical affinity2 and it exhibits     
physical        properties1 such as     
cohesion1 elasticity1 divisibility1 c4  
,living        matter also exhibits     
these properties1 and is subject1 in    
great        measure1 to physical laws4 
,but living bodies are endowed moreover 
with a set of properties altogether     
different from these1 and               
contrasting with them very remarkably40 
7,vide ,lawrence's ,lectures1        p4 

#aba47       #aa ,much against my will  
,i repeat this scholastic term1         
multeity1 but        ,i have sought in  
vain for an unequivocal word of a less  
repulsive        character1 that would  
convey the notion in a positive and not 
comparative sense in kind1 as opposed to
 the unum et simplex1 not        in     
degree1 as contracted with the few4 ,we 
can conceive no reason        that can  
be adduced in justification of the word 
caloric1 as        invented to          
distinguish the external cause of the   
sensation heat1        which would not  
equally authorise the introduction of a 
technical        term in this instance4 
#ab ,for abstractions are the conditions
 and only subject of all abstract       
sciences4 ,thus the theorist 7vide      
,dalton's ,theory71 who reduces the     
chemical process to the positions of    
atoms1 would doubtless thereby          
render chemistry calculable1 but that he
 commences by destroying the            
chemical process itself1 and substitutes

 for it a mote dance of                 
abstractions2 for even the powers which 
he appears to leave real1        those  
of attraction and repulsion1 he         
immediately unrealizes by               
representing them as diverse and        
separable properties4 ,we can           
abstract the quantities and the         
quantitative motion from masses1        
passing over or leaving for other       
sciences the question of what           
constitutes the masses1 and thus apply  
not to the masses themselves1        but
 to the abstractions therefrom1--the    
laws of geometry and        universal   
arithmetic4 ,and where the quantities   
are the infallible        signs of real 
powers1 and our chief concern with the  
masses is as        ,,signs1 sciences   
may be founded thereon of the highest   
use and        dignity4 ,such1 for      
instance1 is the sublime science of     
astronomy1        having for its objects
 the vast masses which 8,god placed in  
the        firmament of the heaven to be

 for signs and for seasons1 for days    
and years40 ,for the whole doctrine of  
physics may be reduced to        three  
great divisions3 ,first1 quantitative   
motion1 which is        proportioned to 
the quantity of matter exclusively4     
,this is the        science of weight or
 statics4 ,secondly1 relative motion1 as
        communicated to bodies          
externally by impact4 ,this is the      
science of        mechanics4 ,thirdly1  
qualitative motion1 or that which is    
accordant        to properties of       
matter4 ,and this is chemistry4 ,now it 
is evident        that the first two    
sciences presuppose that which forms the
        exclusive object of the third1  
namely1 quality2 for all quantity in    
nature is either itself derived1 or at  
least derives its powers from           
some quality1 as that of weight1        
specific cohesion1 hardness1 c42        
and therefore the attempt to reduce to  
the distances or impacts of             
atoms1 under the assumptions of two     

powers1 which are themselves            
declared to be no more than mere general
 terms for those quantities        of   
motion and impact 7the atom itself being
 a fiction formed by        abstraction1
 and in truth a third occult quality for
 the purpose of        explaining       
hardness and density71 amounts to an    
attempt to destroy        chemistry     
itself1 and at the same time to exclude 
the sole reality        and only        
positive contents of the very science   
into which that of        chemistry is  
to be degraded4 ,now what qualities are 
to chemistry1        productiveness is  
to the science of ,life2 and this being 
excluded1        physiology or zoonomy  
would sink into chemistry1 chemistry by 
the        same process into mechanics1 
while mechanics themselves would lose   
the substantial principle1 which1       
bending the lower extreme towards       
its apex1 produces the organic circle of
 the sciences1 and elevates        them 
all into different arcs or stations of  

the one absolute science        of      
,life4          ,this explanation1 which
 in appearance only is a digression1 was
        indispensably requisite to      
prevent the idea of polarity1 which has 
been given as the universal law of      
,life1 from being misunderstood as      
a mere refinement on those mechanical   
systems of physiology1 which        it  
has been my main object to explode4     
#ac ,i apprehend that by men of a       
certain school it would be deemed no    
demerit1 even though they should never  
have condescended to look        into   
any system of ,aristotelian logic4 ,it  
is enough for these        gentlemen    
that they are experimentalists6 ,let it 
not1 however1 be        supposed that   
they make more experiments than their   
neighbours1 who        consider         
induction as a means and not an end2 or 
have stronger        motives for making 
them1 unless it can be believed that    
,tycho ,brhe        must have been urged
 to repeat his sweeps of the heavens    

with        greater accuracy and        
industry than ,herschel1 for no better  
reason        than that the former      
flourished before the theory of         
gravitation was        perfected4 ,no1  
but they have the honour of being mere  
experimentalists6 ,if1 however1 we may  
not refer to logic1 we may to           
common sense and common experience4 ,it 
is not improbable1 however1        that 
they have both read and studied a book  
of hypothetical        psychology on the
 assumptions of the crudest materialism1
 stolen too        without              
acknowledgment from our ,david          
,hartley's essay on ,man1 which         
is well known under the whimsical name  
of ,condillac's ,logic4 ,but1 as        
,mr4 ,brand has lately observed1 8the   
,french are a queer people10 and        
we should not be at all surprised to    
hear of a book of fresh                 
importation from ,paris1 on determinate 
proportions in chemistry1               
announced by the author in his          

title-page as a new and improved        
system either of arithmetic or geometry4
       #ad ,such is the interpretation  
given by ,lord ,bacon4 ,to which of the 
two        gigantic intellects1 the     
poet's or philosophic commentator's1 the
        allegory belongs1 ,i shall not  
presume to decide4 ,its extraordinary   
beauty and appropriateness remains the  
same in either case4       #ae ,the     
,anatomical ,demonstrations of the      
,brain1 by ,dr4 ,spurzheim1 which       
,i have seen1 presented to me the most  
satisfactory proof of this4       #af   
,the remark on the feeling of the       
antenn1 compared with the touch of      
man1 or even of the half-reasoning      
elephant1 is yet more applicable        
to the taste1 which in these gelatinous 
animals might1 perhaps not              
inappropriately1 be entitled the gastric
 sense4