168 



and subject him to distillation, he would find that 

 the patient consisted of some of the commonest ele- 

 ments which are to he found on the globe. It is the 

 same with all human forms, from the loftiest to the 

 lowliest. Dukes and Duchesses coalheavers and 

 washerwomen might all be resolved into the same 

 common-place elements. A Prince in a retort would 

 yield the same produce as a clown, Differing as 

 most men do in other particulars, in this there is no 

 distinction. All arc a compilation of the same sub* 

 stances. 



But though the ultimate elements of which hu- 

 manity consists, are thus plain and ordinary, they 

 are under the management and control of a subtle 

 power, which, without knowing its true nature, we 

 are accustomed to call the YITAL PRINCIPLE. There 

 is something pervading the structure which does not 

 belong to these elements in their inanimate uses and 

 states. "What this mysterious principle of life may 

 be, in its intrinsic nature, it would be idle to surmise. 

 But we may form some conception of its offices by 

 remembering the changes which occur when the body 

 has ceased to breathe. How is it that the frame be- 

 gins then to dissolve ? How is it that the elements 

 of which it was compounded, then break into open 

 insurrection, as it were, and dash off to the four 

 winds of heaven ? It is clear that all along they 

 have been ruled by some powerful force they must 

 have been kept in a state of positive coercion by the 

 principle of life. Just withdraw the principle of 

 vitality, and a series of changes set in, which dissi- 



