1 823.] Abstract of Bichat's Thewy of Life. 



somnambulism, &c. are all produced tion iVom the liver 



l)y the wakefulness of some particular 



orffaus. 



The two lives differ also in regard to 



habit ; the animal being much under 



its control, the organic but slightly. 



In the animal life, habit renders our 



feelings and sensations less intense, 



whilst it elevates and perfects the 



power of judging. The eye is no 



longer sensible of the presence of 



objects to which it has become fami- 

 liarized, the car takes no notice of 



sounds that arc constantly repeated, 



the other senses become hardened 



against the operation of agents which 



have often excited them ; but at the 



same time the capacity for forming an 



accurate judgment with regard to their 



qualities has been growing more per- 

 fect. Thus, a piece of music gives us 



at first a feeling of pleasure simply, 



and nothing more ; if it be often 



repeated, this pleasure vanishes, but 



we become capable of estimating the 



merits of its arrangement and harnionj'. 



In llie organic life it is not so ; respira- 

 tion, circulation, secretion, &:c. are 



totally witliout the duminion of habit; 



and, although some of the functions of 



tliis life, most intimately connected 



with those of the animal, are in some 



measure under its influence, yet in a 



general way a freedom from this influ- 

 ence is a distinguishing characteristic 

 of the organic life. 



Every thing relating to the under- 

 standing is the attribute of animal life; 

 whilst the passions, on the contrary, 

 belong to the organic life, have their 

 seat in its organs, influence them «iion 

 they arc excited into action themselves, 

 and arc on the contrary inflneneed by 

 the state of the organs. 'I'he relation 

 which till! passions have, so remarka- 

 bly, with the animal life, is interme- 

 diate, and not direct; all the primary 

 phicnomeua produced by their excite- 

 ment arc exhibited in IIk; internal 

 organs ; the heart is violently excited 

 in anger, more moderately in joy ; fear, 

 sadness, (jrrief, i>r()duce an opijosite 

 eflcct. The lungs are equally ail'ected, 

 the respiration is quickened or ini- 

 I)eded, a sense of oppression or sullo- 

 catioii is brought on, ace(jrdi)ig to tlie 

 nature and d<;grce of the passion ex- 

 cited. In various emotions we expe- 

 rience peculiar sensations in the epi- 

 gastrium, a sharp pain, a sense of ful- 

 ness or f)f sinking; in other eases, 

 more decided elleets arc produced, a 

 opasnmdir vomiting, a enpidus secrc- 

 MoNTULY M.\G. No. 38'.i. 



417 

 or the nuicous 

 membrane of the intestines, producing 

 a diarrhoea. All the natural gestures 

 by which we attempt to cx|)ress the in- 

 tellectual and moral affections, are so 

 many proofs of the correctness of 

 tliese views. If we wish to indicate 

 any of tiie phenomena of the fiitellect, 

 relating, for instance, to memory, to 

 perception, or to judgment, we carry 

 the hand spontaneously to the head; 

 but, if we would express love, joy, sad- 

 ness, hatred, &c. we involuntarily 

 j>lace it upon the breast, or the stomach. 

 We say a strong head, a well-orga- 

 nized head, to express the perfection 

 of understanding ; a good heart, or a 

 feeling heart, to exjiress moral per- 

 fection. Many of the phaenomena 

 of disease indicate the same re- 

 lations between the organic viscera 

 and our moral affections. In the dis- 

 eases of some organs, the mind is 

 cheerful and happy, taking always a 

 favourable view of things, and this, 

 even wlien the disease lies at the very 

 root of existence ; and, on the contrary, 

 when some other organs are affected, 

 it is invariably gloomy and apprehen- 

 sive, anticipating the most fearful 

 results, and even in trivial complaints 

 expecting tlie most fatal conse- 

 queijces. 



The two lives differ also in the mode 

 and epoch of tiieir origin. The organic 

 is in activity from the very first period 

 of conception ; tlie animal enters into 

 exercise only at birth, when external 

 objects offer to tlie new individual 

 means of connexion and relation. In 

 the fa'tal state, the oeeonomy is solely 

 occupied in the formation and nutri- 

 tion of the organs ; this is Ihe prepara- 

 tive stage of existence. The organs, 

 wliieh are to perform the functions of 

 the animal life, arc created and per- 

 fected, but they are not exercised ; 

 they are not accessible to the operation 

 of the agents whose excitement is ne- 

 cessary to bring them into action, and 

 of ctiurse they remain in a state of 

 ])rofound repose, u)itil the stimulus, 

 first of the air, and afterwards of food, 

 light, and sounds, is applied to the ap- 

 propriate organs. At birth, then, a 

 great change takes place in the physi- 

 ological state of man. His animal life 

 is first brought into existence, and his 

 organic life becomes more fully deve- 

 loped and more complicated, in order 

 to aecomiiKxIate itself to the increased 

 demands which this change necessarily 

 brings upon it. Hut, from this nio- 

 3 11 nient, 



