402 PROPERTIES AND FUNCTIONS 



interesting inquiry was made What is life, or what 

 principle is that by which water is changed into a vege- 

 table substance, or vegetables into animal? what prin- 

 ciple is that which gives to bodies mobility or the power 

 of motion, which enables different parts of the same 

 body to cooperate for the purpose of producing a given 

 effect, and which prepares them to maintain a fixed tem- 

 perature in opposition to that by which they are sur- 

 rounded ? we should answer, that this is the living 

 principle, and that these were the properties by which we 

 distinguished living organized beings. 



We know not what life is of itself; but we know some 

 of its properties or effects, and we at once pronounce 

 that a living being or thing which has a certain assem- 

 blage of properties. 



Plants, by means of small vessels situated in their 

 roots, absorb or take up the moisture from the earth, and 

 this after having passed through various vessels becomes 

 a part of the plants. Some animals live entirely upon 

 vegetables, yet these vegetables eventually become a part 

 of the animal. Now this property which plants and ani- 

 mals have of changing foreign substances into a part of 

 themselves, is a property belonging only to living things, 

 and it is therefore called a vital property. Animals 

 have the power of moving from one place to another in 

 quest of food or pleasure by means of a particular appa- 

 ratus which is subject to the will. Now this power pro- 

 perly belongs only to living beings, and this is also called 

 a vital property. All animals and plants have the power, 

 to a certain extent, of maintaining a fixed temperature 

 in opposition to that by which they are surrounded. 

 Thus the temperature of man never varies more than 

 six degrees, although that of the atmosphere may vary 

 a hundred or more. This property of resisting the action 

 of cold or of producing heat, receives also the name of 

 vital property. These properties are the effect or result 

 of the living principle, and farther than its effects, we 

 know not what life is. We all of us feel and see the ef- 

 fects and influence of the mental powers, but farther 

 than its effects we know not what mind is. We all know 

 that there is such a principle in the physical world as at- 



