678 COMPOSITION AND DECOMPOSITION. 



to be again renovated in the lungs, and finally 

 removed from the system by the several einunc- 

 tories; while their places are immediately taken 

 by fresh organic particles that are continually sup- 

 plied from the living fountain of arterial blood. 



Thus we perceive, that the vital energy of the 

 brain, nerves, stomach, muscles, and all other 

 parts of the body, is maintained by the succes- 

 sive additions of new matter, which no sooner 

 unites with the different tissues, than it begins to 

 die ; that when the caloric by which the particles 

 of arterial blood are united with the solids, is 

 expended by their action, their vital attraction 

 begins to diminish ; that no healthy individual 

 preserves his absolute identity for a single mo- 

 ment ; that every part of the body is in a state 

 of perpetual motion, and transition from life to 

 death, of organization and disorganization, reno- 

 vation and dissolution ; that whenever the worn- 

 out particles are not replaced by new and living 

 ones, emaciation ensues, and all the powers of 

 life decay ; in short, that whenever the process 

 of nutrition is arrested, death speedily closes the 

 scene. 



It has been repeated a hundred times by dif- 

 ferent physiologists, that the affinities of life are 

 superior to those of dead matter.* That this is 



* It is also maintained by nearly all physiologists, that the 

 cause of vital action is different from that of chemical affinity, 

 cohesion, &c. because we cannot combine the elements of oxygen, 



