FORMATION OP COMPOUND BODIES. 181 



particles are held together, is called attraction. 

 The whole together is known by the name 

 of chemical affinity, or elective attraction. 



Attraction, therefore, properly considered, may 

 be supposed to bear the same relation to the 

 union of the particles of common matter toge- 

 ther, that I have endeavoured to show, vitality 

 (or the principle of life) bears to that which is 

 living. While vitality is the bond, and the 

 power, by which the particles of organised 

 matter are united, and the various pheno- 

 mena of organisation produced ; attraction, on 

 the contrary, may be considered as the bond, 

 and the power, by which the individual par- 

 ticles of common matter are connected; not 

 only in parts, but in whole it forms the source 

 from which the various phenomena which dif- 

 ferent species describe, are made to flow ; and 

 from whence secondary or accidental qualities 

 arise. 



The meaning which I have attached to the 

 term, attraction, is conformable to what is ge- 

 nerally understood at this time. By some it is 

 called, " the power of drawing any thing ;" 

 " the cause by which bodies tend towards each 

 other, and cohere, till separated by some exter- 

 nal force," " the power, or principle, by which 

 all bodies mutually tend towards each other, 

 without regarding the cause, or kind of acti -n, 

 that may be the means of producing the effect." 



