WITH RELATION TO VITALITY. 25 



physics, such as is dead, or common. Corres- 

 pondent to the difference of character which 

 subsists in matter dead, or common, whether 

 solid, liquid, or gaseous, a subdivision in the 

 science of physics is made. Geology refers to 

 the solid and' common matter of which the 

 world is composed. Hydrology to liquid, and 

 meteorology, to that which subsists in a gaseous, 

 or aeriform state ; and finally, chemistry is de- 

 signed to examine, and to ascertain, the more 

 intimate and particular qualities, which each 

 substance possesses, and the changes it under- 

 goes by union and combination ; the means 

 employed are those of analysis and synthesis. 



If we begin by examining the attributes of 

 common matter, in its form the most simple 

 and uncombined, we shall find that an increase 

 of bulk alone ensues, by the aggregation of its 

 parts ; and that if a union takes place between 

 bodies, whose qualities are different, both lose 

 by the combination some of the properties pos- 

 sessed, separately, by each ; whether it be a 

 solid, or a fluid ; an alkali, or an acid ; a 

 metallic ore, or a gaseous fluid. If matter is 

 acted upon by some external agent, and motion 

 is produced ; the motion produced perpetually 

 diminishes, and is ultimately lost : the matter 

 impelled, gradually verges from the state of 

 activity into which it had ben excited, and 

 returns to the one in which it existed before, 



