418 Abstract of Bichat 



nicnt, there is no further alteration or 

 improvemeul in the functions of tlic 

 organic life. They are as perfect in 

 the infant as in the adult ; tliey are not 

 susceptilile of education. But in those 

 of the animal life every thin[^ depends 

 upon the education tlicy receive; at 

 first fe<'l)l(', imperfect, indistinct, tliey 

 gradually become developed, and the 

 direction given to this development, 

 and the character which they nlti- 

 inately possess, depend in a great 

 measure ui>on the influence exercised 

 upon them by extrinsic circumstances. 

 Difl'ering tlins in their origin and in 

 their mode of development, the two 

 lives differ also in the mode of their 

 termination in death, when this takes 

 place naturally, tiiat is, at the extre- 

 mity of old age. The animal life is 

 becoming gradually extinguished, be- 

 fore the organic has begun to fail. One 

 after another its functions cease to be 

 performed. Tiie eye becomes ob- 

 scured, it ceases to feel or to transmit 

 tlie impression of light. The ear be- 

 fomes insensible to the impulse of 

 sound. The skin, shrivelled, hardened, 

 deprived in part of its vessels, is capa- 

 ble of l.ut an obsenie and indistinct 

 sensation ; the parts dependent upon it, 

 the hair and beard, lose tlieir vitality, 

 grow white, and fall oil'. The intel- 

 lectual inuctions follow in tlie train of 

 the sensations, the perception is blunt- 

 ed, the memory fails, the judgment 

 becomes infantile ; and at the same 

 time tiie muscles under the influence 

 of the brain, viz. those of locomotion 

 and voice, partake of the same decre- 

 pitude. The old man moves with 

 pain and ditlieulty, and speaks with a 

 thick and trembling voice. ' Seated 

 near the fire which warms him, lie 

 passes his days concentrated within 

 himself; estranged from every thing 

 around him, depiived o*' desires, of 

 passions, of sensations, speaking little, 

 because induced by no motive to 

 break silence, happy in the feeling that 

 he still exists, when almost every 

 other one has already ipiitted him.' 

 In a certain sense tlicn the animal lil'e 

 dies first, and leaves the organic still 

 going on in the performance of its 

 functions ; this separation is more or 

 less complete, and continui's for a 

 greater or less liiiglh of tin>e, in difTer- 

 ent cases. The old man may continue 

 to breathe and digest, for some time 

 alter he has to all intents and purposes 

 ceased to think and to feel; he conti- 

 uues to exist as a vegetable, when he 



'« Theory of Life. [June 1, 



no longer lives as an animal. Death, 

 however, at length seizes upon the 

 organic life. Gradually, and step by 

 sfip, the vital forces desert the differ- 

 ent organs ; digestion, secretion, &c. 

 languish, the circulation and respira- 

 tion are successively impeded, and 

 finally stop. 



In considering the vital properties, 

 as in all his inquiries concerning life, 

 Lichat had constant regard to his 

 grand division into the two lives; and 

 he recognises in the functions of each 

 life, the exhibition of properties pecu- 

 liar to itself, or at least properties mo- 

 dified by the nature and relations of that 

 life to w!iose functions they are sub- 

 servient. In the organic life, the 

 organs have in the first place a sort of 

 sensibility or perception, by which 

 they become acquainted with the pre- 

 sence and qualities of the substances 

 applied to them ; this is the organic 

 sensibility; thej' have then a property 

 by which they react \ipon these sub- 

 stances, and excite in them motion; 

 this is the organic contractility. It 

 has two modifications. 1. Where the 

 contraction is insensible, as in the ex- 

 halants, capillaries, secreting vessels. 

 2. Where it is sensible, as in the heart, 

 the stomach, the intestines; and these 

 are called respectively, the insensible, 

 and the sensible, organic contractility. 

 In the organs of the animal life, there 

 is also a sensibility, by which they are 

 not only made capable of receiving the 

 impression of an objecl and its quali- 

 ties, but of transmitting that impression 

 to the common sensnrium ; and a con- 

 tractility, which not only renders a 

 part capable of contracting, but is in 

 the exercise of its ])ower under the 

 entire control and direction of the 

 brain. These properties are called the 

 animal sensibility and the animal con- 

 tractility. 



With Bichat the properties of life 

 were all in all. The phanomena of 

 the system, whether in health or 

 disease, were all ascribed to their 

 influence and 0[)eration. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



THE farce of the sinking-fund was 

 carried on from its first establish- 

 ment to the year 1819, when the nomi- 

 nal amount for the annual redemption 

 of debt \>as about fifteen millions of 

 pounds sterling. 



At fliis period, (four years ago,) the 

 ministers in both Houiscs hail the eflron- 



tcry 



