LIEBIG ON ANIMAL MOTION. 907 



is rapidly dissolved, conveyed into the general 

 circulation, and thence into the lungs, where they 

 are consumed by a slow combustion, attended 

 with dizziness, mental debility, stupor, delirium, 

 weakness of the limbs, hollowness of the features, 

 and rapid emaciation, which are the leading 

 symptoms of starvation, as described by Captain 

 Bligh. 



The observations of Liebig on the cause of 

 animal motion, would have been noticed when 

 treating on that subject, had not the fourth and 

 fifth books of this work gone to the press before 

 I examined his second volume. He there states 

 that " everything in the animal organism to 

 which the name of motion can be applied, pro- 

 ceeds from the nervous system," that " no 

 change of condition can occur in the body with- 

 out the nerves, which are essential to all vital 

 motions," that " under their influence the vis- 

 cera produce those compounds, which, while they 

 protect the organism from the action of oxygen 



repaired during health, lost parts renewed, wounds healed, ulcers 

 filled up, and the whole body restored to its former weight, after 

 long illness of any description. Among all the wonders of nature, 

 there is nothing more miraculous than the self-repairing powers 

 of the living body. Nor is it very easy to explain why it should 

 wear out in three score years and ten. Compared with this chef 

 d'ceuvre of the creation, the grandest inventions of human genius 

 are but rude and imperfect imitations. Had the steam-engine 

 the power of conveying its worn out particles to the furnace, and 

 of converting them into new materials for repairing the loss arising 

 from motion and friction, it would slightly approximate the per- 

 fection of the living frame. 



