OF VITAL MOTION. 105 



this conclusion, when it is remembered that elastic 

 bodies follow precisely the same law ; and lastly, as 

 another argument against his conclusions, it must be 

 remembered that these movements are not nervous 

 and vital, but the results of the workings of the gal- 

 vanic force. 



All, therefore, that we learn from this experiment 

 is, that attraction and the antagonizing forces occupy 

 an inverse relation to each other and this is a truth 

 of universal extent. The deductions of M. Schwann 

 are altogether gratuitous, and so far from the expe- 

 riment being an objection to the idea that vital 

 and physical contraction are obedient to the same 

 law, it furnishes evidence in favour of this view,- by 

 showing, that the force of attraction in each case is 

 affected in the same manner by resistance. 



In conclusion : we have reviewed the phenomena of 

 voluntary muscular action in relation to the several 

 correlated aspects of physical force, and from this 

 examination it appears that the muscles are subject 

 to each and all of these agents, as inorganic bodies are 

 subject. Heat, light, electricity, and chemical agency 

 are all correlative of motion, and this latter aspect of 

 force, so far as we may judge, is not different from the 

 motion which is correlative of these forces in inanimate 

 nature. 



