ON THE VITAL PRINCIPLE. 



effects of this vital energy are still more stu- 

 pendous in the operations constantly going on in 

 every organized body, from our own elaborate 

 frame to the humblest moss or fungus. Those 

 different fluids, so fine and transparent, sepa- 

 rated from each other by membranes as fine, 

 which compose the eye, all retain their pro- 

 per situations (though each fluid individually 

 is perpetually removed and renewed) for sixty, 

 eighty, or a hundred years, or more, while life 

 remains. So do the infinitely small vessels of 

 an almost invisible insect, the fine and pellucid 

 tubes of a plant, all hold their destined fluids, 

 conveying or changing them according to 

 fixed laws, but never permitting them to run 

 into confusion, so long as the vital principle 

 animates their various forms. But no sooner 

 does death happen, than, without any alte- 

 ration of structure, any apparent change in 

 their material configuration, all is reversed. 

 The eye loses its form and brightness; its 

 membranes let go their contents, which mix in 

 confusion, and thenceforth yield to the laws of 

 chemistry alone. Just so it happens, sooner 

 or later, to the other parts of the animal as 

 well as vegetable frame. Chemical changes, 



