ZOOCHEMICAL PROCESSES. 



AFTER having traversed the extensive domain of the organic 

 substrata, which serve as the solid basis of the zoo-vital processes, 

 and endeavoured, in accordance with the principles of an enlight- 

 ened physical inquiry, to form a correct estimate of the chemical 

 and physiological value of the numerous members of those groups 

 of atoms which serve the animal body both as materials for its 

 structure, and as the means by which its movements are effected, 

 we at length approach the special aim of our inquiries, namely, 

 the study of the phenomena manifested during life in those parts 

 of the animal organism which we have been considering, and the 

 elucidation of the internal connection existing between such 

 diversified phenomena and the causes on which they depend. 

 We drew attention in the introduction to the present work (see 

 vol. i, p. 13) to the maxims and principles which ought to guide 

 us in our attempt to unravel the hidden processes of material life ; 

 we will not, therefore, enlarge upon our previous remarks, or 

 expatiate any further upon a subject which has been treated with 

 so much more ability by other writers, as, for instance, by Lotze* 

 and John Stuart Mill.f Yet, when we take a survey of the col- 

 lective mass of positive facts, we find a mere accumulation of 

 disjointed fragments, the natural connection of which we are rarely 

 able to discover, since we often lack the intervening links by 

 which alone we should be enabled to follow the endless chain of 

 vital phenomena. A careful study of the material substrata of 

 animal life, as far as the present condition of science admits of 

 such an investigation, cannot fail to show us how far removed we 

 still are from obtaining a scientific basis for a true inductive 

 treatment of the material processes of life ; and, indeed, it would 

 almost seem to require the marvellous powers of combination of a 



* Allgem. Physiologie des korperlichen Lebens, Leipz. 1851. 

 t A System of Logic, rationative and inductive. London, 1843. 



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