INTRODUCTION. 

 Of the Oryanical Sciences 



fTlHOUGH the general notion of life is acknowledged by the most 

 -A- profound philosophers to be dim and mysterious, even up to the 

 present time; and must, in the early stages of human speculation, 

 have been still more obscure and confused ; it was sufficient, even 

 then, to give interest and connexion to men's observations upn their 

 own bodies and those of other animals. It was seen, that in living- 

 things, certain peculiar processes were constantly repeated, as those 

 of breathing and o/ taking food, for example ; and that a certain con- 

 formation of the parts of the animal was subservient to these pro- 

 cesses ; and thus were gradually formed the notions of function and 

 of Organization. And the sciences of which these notions formed the 

 basis are clearly distinguishable from all those which we have hitherto 

 considered. "We conceive an organized body to be one in which the 

 parts are there for the sake of the whole, in a manner different from 

 any mechanical or chemical connexion ; we conceive a function to be 

 not merely a process of change, but of change connected with the 

 general vital process. When mechanical or chemical processes occur 

 in the living body, they are instrumental to, and directed by, the 

 peculiar powers of life. The sciences which thus consider organiza- 

 tion and vital functions may be termed organical sciences. 



When men began to speculate concerning such subjects, the general 

 mode of apprehending the process in the cases of some functions, 

 appeared to be almost obvious ; thus it was conceived that the growth 

 of animals arose from their frame appropriating to itself a part of the 

 substance of the food through the various passages of the body. 

 Under the influence of such general conceptions, speculative men were 

 naturally led to endeavor to obtain more clear and definite views of 

 the course of each of such processes, and of the mode in which the 

 separate parts contributed to it. Along with the observation of the 

 living person, the more searching examination which could be carried 

 on in the dead body, and the comparison of various kinds of animals, 

 soon showed that this pursuit was rich in knowledge and in interest. 



