32 DEATH. 



multitude of extrinsic causes." There is something, 

 however, beyond this rigidity of the fibres, this 

 obstruction of the vessels. These must be them- 

 selves the effects of an antecedent cause, and will 

 not bear to be compared with the phenomena pro- 

 duced by chemical agents. In short, the bounds of 

 the duration of living beings are prescribed by laws 

 as certain, but as mysterious, as those which deter- 

 mine form or regulate growth. With the cessation 

 of the vital principle, every phenomenon which dis- 

 tinguished between organic and inorganic matter, 

 ceases also. The outward form, indeed, may remain 

 for a shorter or more protracted period ; but it is 

 now no longer under the influence of the laws 

 of life. Its component particles are the subjects 

 of another empire; they form new combinations, 

 and become lost and mingled with the elements 

 around. 



To such a transition, inorganic matter presents no 

 analogy. However it may be increased or dimi- 

 nished, or, whatever may be its mutations, every 

 change it displays is the result of extraneous agen- 

 cies, and dependent on the laws of chemistry and 

 mechanics. But here there is no vital bond ; death 

 is a necessary consummation of life, the goal to 

 which it inevitably tends, the irrevocable destiny of 

 organic existence. 



As to the dissolution of our race, there is no 

 mystery. " By one man sin entered into the world, 

 and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, 



