THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGY. if,/ 



physical and vital properties of matter, which are at present our 

 ultimate facts or axioms, may be hereafter included within a more 

 general expression common to both ? On this subject we can 

 only speculate ; but the probability appears decidedly in the 

 affirmative. We have already remarked upon the rapid progress 

 of generalization in the physical sciences, rendering it probable 

 that before long one simple formula shall comprehend all the 

 phenomena of the inorganic world ; and it is not, perhaps, too 

 much to hope for a corresponding simplification in the laws of the 

 organized creation, although this is necessarily retarded by the 

 many obstacles which the nature of the subject presents to 

 the philosophical inquirer. In proportion to our attainment of 

 such generalizations, we rise from the domain of our ignorance to 

 that of our knowledge ; for, at every successive step, we are able 

 to comprehend new relations between facts that previously seemed 

 confused and insulated ; new objects for what formerly appeared 

 destitute of utility. 



Every step, then, which we take in the path of generalization 

 must increase our admiration of the beauty of the adaptation, and 

 the harmony of the action of the laws we discover ; a beauty and 

 harmony in which the contemplative mind delights to recognize 

 the wisdom and beneficence of the Divine Author of the universe, 

 If we can conceive that the Almighty _;?«/ which created matter out 

 of nothing, impressed upon it one simple law, which should regu- 

 late the association of its masses into systems of almost illimitable 

 extent, controlling their movements, fixing the times of the com- 

 mencement and the cessation of each world, and balancing against 

 each other the perturbing influences to which its own actions give 

 rise, — should be the cause, not only of the general uniformity, but 

 of the particular variety of their conditions, governing the changes 

 in the form and structure of each individual globe protracted 

 through an existence of countless centuries, and adjusting the 

 alternation of " seasons and times and months and years," — should 

 people all these worlds with living beings of endless diversity of 

 nature, providing for their support, their happiness, their mutual 

 reliance, ordaining their constant decay of succession, not merely 

 as individuals, but as races, and adapting them in every minute 

 particular to the conditions of their dwelling, — and should har- 



