26 OF VITAL MOTION. 



upon by external agents) reacts inductively upon the 

 floating nuclei contained within it, and it may be 

 imagined that one of the consequences of the action 

 will be the communication of a motion to these nuclei, 

 such as is witnessed in a constrained and modified 

 manner in the various forms of electromotory machines. 

 These intercellular movements may be in part explained 

 in this way, for there is no doubt of the existence of 

 a tangential force in connexion with electricity, which 

 under some circumstances is sufficient to communicate 

 to the body acted upon a direct, and, as it were, orbital 

 movement around the body which is the principal 

 source and spring of action. 



At the present stage of our inquiry we may only 

 hope to obtain presumptive arguments, for those 

 which furnish demonstration and conviction have to 

 be reared by a tedious cumulative process, which will 

 not be complete until all the phenomena of vital 

 movement have passed under consideration. At the 

 same time it is necessary to place a check upon our- 

 selves, lest we be blinded by our prejudices, and to 

 keep the judgment cool and collected while we weigh 

 the evidence which will gradually come under notice. 



2. Of intra-organic force as the agent in cellular 



movements. 

 As in the phenomena of cyclosis, it is probable that 

 in this case there are internal physical agencies which 



