VITAL PRINCIPLE, 21 



of the parts of an organized being, and in regulating the 

 motions which are necessary to provide food, remove ob- 

 stacles, or repair injuries, is likewise exerted, in a determi- 

 nate manner, in each species propagating individuals of a 

 similar kind. Without this resource, the race would pe- 

 rish with the dissolution of the primitive stock. It is true, 

 that the circumstances under which organized bodies are 

 produced, are widely different in the Vegetable and Ani- 

 mal Kingdoms, and in the subdivisions of these great tribes. 

 But there is at least one point of resemblance. The living 

 power is first employed in the formation of the individual ; 

 and, during the developement of the several organs, the 

 procreative instinct is dormant. But when the organized 

 body approaches maturity, there is, as it were, an accumula- 

 tion of vital energy, which gives birth to a new individual. 



These different operations of living beings, which we 

 have thus briefly enumerated, can never be regarded as the 

 effect of their peculiar organization. The organs are formed 

 according to a uniform and determined plan, from inorganic 

 matter, collected from various sources, and arranged, accord- 

 ing to the species, on different models. By what power, 

 then, does this organization take place ? And what is the 

 nature of that principle which regulates animated beings ? 



We have already taken notice of the laws by which it 

 is regulated in the constitution, duration, and continuance 

 of organized bodies. These make us acquainted with the 

 existence of a principle, different from any of those which 

 the mechanical or chemical philosophers have investigated 

 with so much success. This power has been denominated 

 The Living or Vital Principle ; and the phenomena which 

 it exhibits, are included in our idea of Life or Vitality. 



This vital principle, then, so far as appears to our senses, 

 can only reside in organized bodies. The connection is 

 temporary, and may be dissolved by various circumstances j; 



