144 Human Physiology. 



other, not in matter or form, but only in the quality of life. In 

 that quality of life in the subtle element which adheres to, or 

 presides in, or over each globule, is the directing force, the 

 guiding intelligence, which will accomplish its development, 

 and make it what it is to become. The material atoms do not 

 differ, but each collection of atoms and molecules has in or 

 around it a soul, a spirit, a living principle, an invisible, intan- 

 gible mind-force, which contains the character and capabilities 

 of the being into which each germ is to be developed. 



And one of these microscopic globules, all so alike in form 

 and matter, will become a rose-tree, and one a pine ; one will 

 be an oyster, and one a dragon-fly; one will be a canary bird, 

 and one an elephant ; one will be an Englishman, with all his- 

 national peculiarities, another an Esquimaux. The same mat- 

 ter is moulded into a thousand forms, by the varying character 

 of that which presides over matter, and directs form and mani- 

 festation. And this is what I have chosen to call Life, which 

 is to force, what force is to matter. 



The matter of our bodies is changing every hour. We con- 

 stantly throw off the old, and constantly add new. At every breath 

 we take in a new stock of oxygen, and give out a quantity of 

 carbon. Hydrogen and nitrogen pass off continually by the 

 millions of pores of our skin. The addition of each day's food 

 is made needful by each day's waste. Our real life, then, is 

 something superior to matter, and something which can order, 

 control, and use material forces ; a power that shapes every 

 organ ; that makes living blood, and then sends it through the 

 system ; which gives action to brain cells, nerve fibres, and 

 muscle discs ; which is the real life of man, and of every living 

 thing. 



For matter can no more make of itself a leaf, than a lobe of 

 brain. Dead brain and a dead leaf are much alike. It is life 

 in both that works, and matter is worked with. The myriad 

 shapes of leaves, and their myriad organs do not come from the 





