ASSIMILATION. 6,57 



the system begin to decay which are employed in preparing ma- 

 terials for future assimilation, our surprise will, in some mea- 

 sure, cease. It is in these parts, in the organs of digestion and 

 assimilation, accordingly, that this decay usually proves fatal. 

 The decay in other parts destroys life only when the waste is so 

 rapid that it does not admit of repair. 



What the reason is that the decay of the organs causes death, 

 or, which is the same thing, causes the living principle either to 

 cease to act, or to leave the body altogether, it is perfectly im- 

 possible to say, because we know too little of the nature of the 

 living principle, and of the manner in which it is connected with 

 the body. The last is evidently above the human understanding ; 

 but many of the properties of the living principle have been dis- 

 covered : and were the facts already known properly arranged, 

 and such general conclusions drawn from them as their connec- 

 tion with each other fully warrant, a degree of light would be 

 thrown upon the animal economy, which those who have not at- 

 tended to the subject are not aware of. 



No sooner is the animal dead, than the chemical and mecha- 

 nical agents, which were formerly servants, usurp the supreme 

 power, and soon decompose and destroy that very body which had 

 been in a great measure reared by their means. 



T t 



