508 TIEDEMANN AND MULLKK. 



It was observed by the learned Tiedemann, that 

 " the final cause of vital force, like that of attrac- 

 tion, repulsion, gravitation, cohesion, and che- 

 mical affinity, is a secret whose profundity we 

 shall never be able, from all appearances, to 

 reach.' 1 (Compar. Physiology, p. 193,) But we 

 have seen that without the union of caloric with 

 the particles of ponderable matter, they could 

 have no powers of approaching to, or of receding 

 from each other ; and that the entire extinction 

 of solar radiation, if such a thing were possible, 

 would put an end to the sublime revolutions of 

 the heavenly bodies, together with all that is 

 beautiful and glorious in the visible creation. 



The celebrated Miiller observes in a late work 

 on the Elements of Physiology, that our know- 

 ledge of the vital principle is not more imperfect 

 than it is with regard to the nature of caloric, 

 electricity, and light ; and that the cause of 

 crystallization is no less difficult to comprehend 

 than that of organization. But I have shewn 

 that caloric is a self-moving agent, and the active 

 principle in light, as in every form of electricity ; 

 that it depends wholly on the amount of caloric 

 in bodies whether they exist in the solid, liquid, 

 or gaseous state ; and that the crystalline form of 

 salts, rocks, &c. is greatly modified by tempe- 

 rature, as in the phenomena of dimorphism. Nay 

 more, that there are many bodies composed of 

 the same elements in exactly the same proportions. 



