146 



that the tendency of the internal causation of the spirit is, work- 

 ing with common properties, to produce diffe rent forms of it in 

 different spheres, by which changes of forms, properties, in regard 

 to the textures, become either active or latent. 



63. Thus, if a lost muscle were regenerated, the processes 

 from the surfaces whence it proceeds would be of the following 

 kind: properties capable of forming the muscle are possessed in 

 a latent form by surfaces from whence it grows ; by the relation 

 between properties, life is increased by assimilation from the 

 material in the way described: but the life thus increased, instead 

 of being identical with that inhabiting the textures which originate 

 the new growth, is according to that modification of the spirit 

 which, from the force of internal relations, it has in this place 

 assumed. The production will depend upon these internal rela- 

 tions, and by them, according to preceding data, it will be bone, 

 muscle, ligament, lips, eyes, or any thing else. It is however 

 proper to observe, that where the regenerative processes take 

 place to the greatest extent, as in the lowest tribes of animals, 

 and in vegetables, the new production often differs but very little 

 in the character of its organization from that whence it proceeded, 

 or indeed from the entire mass. 



64. In the examples of morbid growths, as of tumors, con- 

 versions of structures, &c. a similar proceeding is observed: the 

 organic spirit assumes a change in its properties, by this change 

 the condition of the textures is affected; perhaps the seat of the 

 disease might be a small congeries of capillary tubes, from them 

 processes of growth originate, and the character of this growth is 

 determined by the disposition of the spirit which inheres with it. 

 Thus we might have a small sarcoma with no tendency to increase, 

 or .the spiritual properties may dispose it to a rapid increase; 

 having attained a certain bulk, a new spirit may appear to actuate 

 the mass; from a tendency to regular increase, partial acts of de- 

 struction may take place, it may slough, it may suppurate, it 

 may throw out a fungus, its vessels might give way, &c. 



65. Now with respect to this change which has taken place 

 in the tumor, the common phrase is, it has assumed a new action; 

 and if on a sudden it mortified, would this be a new action too? 

 Let, however, the term pass, as it is one of easy and established 

 use. For my own part, a word will not in such cases content me. 

 But, according to this term, the fate of the tumor is allowed to 

 be determined by a government of a vital kind. What then is the 

 law by which this new action (I have a great antipathy to the 

 *word) takes place? Previous to its occurrence, the tumor was 

 tranquil, and it maintained the cohesion of its structure; this 

 must be imputed to the condition of the spirit: the structure is 

 afterwards modified or destroyed; this also must be attributed to 

 the condition of the spirit. 



66. Now the tumor being at the time of change, as before, 

 supplied with blood made by unaffected organs, the change can 



