376 OP THE NISUS FORMATIVUS. 



587. This true generation by successive formation 

 has been variously described by physiologists, but the 

 following we consider as the true account. 



1. The matter of which organised bodies, and there- 

 fore the human frame, are composed, differs from all 

 other matter in this, — that it alone is subject to the 

 influence of the vital powers.* 



2. Among the orders of vital powers, one is emi- 

 nently remarkable and the least disputable of all, 

 which, while it acts upon that matter, hitherto shapeless 

 but mature, imparts to it a form regular and definite, 

 although varying according to the particular nature of 

 the matter. To distinguish this vital power from the 

 rest, permit us to designate it by the term — nisus 



FORMATIVUS. 



3. The nisus formativus occurs to the genital matter, 

 when this is mature and .committed to the uterus in a 

 proper condition and under proper circumstances, lays 

 in it the rudiments of conception, and gradually forms 

 organs fitted for particular purposes; preserves this 

 structure during life, by nourishing (455 sq.) the body ; 

 and reproduces, (459) as far as it can, any part acci- 

 dentally mutilated.f 



588. We therefore think it very probable that those 

 fluids which, during a successful coition, are thrown 



* See Chr. Girtanner, uber das Kau tin-he Priuzip f&r die Naturgeschichtc . 

 Gotting. 1796. 8vo. p. 14 sq. 



T Here allow me to make three remarks. 



1. I have used the expression — nisus formativus, merely to distinguish it 

 from the other orders of vital powers, and by no means to explain the cause of 

 generation, which I consider equally involved in Cimmerian darkness as the 

 cause of gravitation or attraction that are merely terms given to effects known, 

 like the nisiis foiiiiittinis, \ poSteffbd. 



