DEFINITIONS OK LIFE. 503 



Yet we are told by many of the most distin- 

 guished modern physiologists, that as Newton 

 succeeded in resolving nearly all the phenomena 

 of nature into the inherent properties of matter, 

 there is no necessity of resorting to the agency of 

 any distinct principle as the primary and effi- 

 cient cause of animal motion. In accordance 

 with this view, Bichat defines " life as the sum 

 of the functions that resist death," Cuvier, as 

 " the combined result of all the organic func- 

 tions," and Richerand, as " the assemblage of 

 the properties and laws that govern the animal 

 economy." He says, " Le mot de principe vital, 

 force vital, &c. n' exprime point un etre existent 

 par lui meme, et independamment des actions par 

 lesquelles il se manifeste : il ne faut 1'employer 

 que commune formule abrege, dont on se sert pour 

 designer 1'ensemble des forces qui animent les 

 corps vivans, et distinguent de la matiere inerte." 

 Nouveau El&mensde Phys. torn. i. 80. 



Here then, as Mason Good observes, " we have 

 not only the employment of terms that have no 



so far as to maintain the materiality of the Great First Cause ; 

 for, said he, " There can be no virtue without substance." Optics, 

 book iii. 



But without transcending the limits of the human mind, it 

 may be safely affirmed, that whoever denies the existence of any 

 cause of attraction, repulsion, and animal motion, distinct from 

 the phenomena produced, not only rejects the evidence of reason 

 and the common sense of mankind, but involves the whole 

 theory of nature in profound obscurity. 



L L 



