ON MATTER AND FORCE. 53 



to the place of sensation?" and in the twenty- 

 fourth query : " Is not animal motion performed 

 by the vibrations of this medium 8ether ?" 



The idea of a vital fluid, a material substance 

 of extreme subtlety, volatility, and energy in 

 other words, a subtle setherial fluid diffused 

 through the frame, enabling it to show all the 

 phenomena of life was taught by Hofmann. 



This imponderable fluid was even so far 

 personified or incarnated, that each particle of 

 the vital fluid was believed to have a determined 

 idea of the whole mechanism and organism; 

 and, according to this idea, it formed the body, 

 and preserved it by its motion. 



As the idea of an electric fluid or fluids 

 became stronger, so the idea of the vital fluid 

 was made more scientific by imagining it to be 

 similar to or even identical with the electric 

 fluid. 



John Hunter said : " The living principle of 

 the blood is the materia vitce di/usa, of which 

 every part of an animal has its portion. It is 

 as it were diffused through the whole solids and 

 fluids, making a necessary constituent part of 

 them, and forming with them a perfect whole, 

 giving to both the power of preservation and 



