49 



a general property common to all living matter, 

 the latter, some specific properties in addition ; 

 but there is another, and perhaps a better foun- 

 dation for such an arrangement, in certain ge- 

 neral ends to which more or fewer of the several 

 functions independently of the individual end 

 to which each is subservient conjointly con- 

 duce. These general ends are three ; the ulti- 

 mate object of every function being either to 

 preserve the individual in a state of life and 

 health, to perpetuate its species, or to maintain 

 its relation with the external world ; and in this 

 view of the matter the functions have been ar- 

 ranged into the nutritive, the reproductive arid 

 the relative. Of these, the first head includes 

 digestion, circulation, nutrition and secretion, 

 absorption and respiration, all of which extend 

 no further than the individual, and have no 

 ulterior end; the second includes generation 

 alone, and is exercised for the sake, not of the 

 individual, but of the race ; and the third in- 

 cludes sensation, thought and voluntary motion, 

 and furnishes us with the only means which we 

 have of maintaining an intercourse with each 

 other, with nature, and with nature's God. It 

 will be observed that this arrangement does not 

 differ very materially from the preceeding in 

 fact, it leads to the same order of succession in 

 classifying the functions, but, as founded on less 

 questionable principles, and leading to a more 

 precise nomenclature, it appears to be infinitely 

 preferable to it. Further, it is the one best 



