LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 79 



able stimulus another messenger sent to certain 

 parts of the body, to summon them to action; 

 which is sent, not from the heart, but from the 

 brain. This messenger is a strange, incomprehen- 

 sible being; and his name is WILL. 



Comparing organized matter to a musical instru- 

 ment, and its aptitude to act, i.e. live, to that 

 instrument's aptitude to sound, one might liken 

 the stimulus offered by the blood to the per- 

 former, whose office it is to play upon that in- 

 strument. 



These two properties, sensibility and contracti- 

 lity) constitute vitality. I say vitality not life. 



And here allow me to caution you against the 

 common error of confounding vitality with life. The 

 term " vitality" ho more signifies life, than the word 

 fiddle signifies music. Vitality signifies, not life, 

 but livabihty (if I may coin a word) ; that is, the 

 aptitude or fitness to live; as musicality (if I may 

 be allowed to coin another word) would denote, 

 not music, but the aptitude or fitness to give rise 

 to musical sounds. Vitality is a secondary cause 

 a necessary condition of organized matter, in order 

 to give rise to living actions ; as musicality would 

 represent a necessary condition in a fiddle, in order 

 to give rise to musical soutfds. A fiddle may be 





