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pie of the modification of chemical affinities by the contact of living 

 structures, to which the term Vital Affinity is applied ; and, at the 

 same time, as an indication of this distinctive peculiarity of the vital 

 affinities, that, like all other actions strictly called vital, they are of 

 transient duration only ; and that the life of every individual ani- 

 mal is maintained only by the successive life and death of all the 

 atoms of organised matter of which it is composed ; every portion, 

 as it dies, being removed from its place by interstitial absorption, 

 becoming liable to the influence of the oxygen (as it would be, if 

 separated from the body, and undergoing decomposition), and serving 

 for the maintenance of the different excretions. 



This opinion he stated as having been adopted by several physiolo- 

 gists of late years, in regard to those portions of animal textures 

 which are engaged in active vital operations, particularly muscular 

 and nervous parts ; but its importance as a general physiological 

 principle, connecting together the necessity of continued nutrition 

 for the maintenance of animal life (even during the decline of the 

 body), the intention of interstitial absorption, the use of respiration, 

 and the necessity and nature of the excretions, had not, as he thought, 

 been pointed out in any physiological work. He acquiesced, how- 

 ever, in the statement of some recent authors, that this partial death 

 of portions of the animal frame appears to be greatly accelerated by 

 local increase of any of the strictly vital actions ; and under this law, 

 he thought we may include not only the fact of the loss of power in 

 a muscular or nervous part from over-exertion (leading to increased 

 interstitial absorption, and thereby, in a healthy constitution, and 

 where the exertion is not excessive, to subsequent deposition and 

 hypertrophy), but likewise, the increased interstitial absorption, the 

 ulcerative absorption, the partial sloughing, or general gangrene of a 

 part that has been inflamed, — all these being results of the death of 

 certain particles of matter concerned in the inflammation, and varying 

 in degree as this death is more partial and gradual, or more general 

 and sudden. 



On the whole, therefore, he maintained, that not only the general 

 principle may be held to be ascertained of peculiar vital affinities 

 actuating the portions of matter by which the organic principles are 

 formed, and organised structures developed, but that the facts already 

 known on the subject, justify several important inferences in regard 

 to the peculiarities of these affinities, both as to their nature and 

 duration ; and that we can point out, with at least much probability, 



