ON LIFE. 367 



He said truly, that when the muscle cut off from 

 the animal recently killed still palpitated, it was 

 by its property of life. Accordingly, when a por- 

 tion of the blood was withdrawn, he observed that 

 it exhibited properties totally different from dead 

 matter : it was drawn a fluid ; and this fluid pre- 

 sently coagulated. What, said his opponents, is 

 there in this ? Do we not see a fluid jellying, and 

 becoming solid ; and is this to be a proof of life ? 

 But Mr. Hunter demonstrated that the coagula- 

 tion of the blood was not in any respect like the 

 formation of a jelly ; that heat neither accelerated 

 nor prevented it ; that it took place whether the 

 fluid was left quiet or stirred ; that nothing pre- 

 vented the blood becoming solid but the contact 

 and influence of the living vessels of the body. — 

 He showed, also, that the blood could be deprived 

 of life or killed, and then it no longer coagulated. 

 In short, he compared this property of coagulation 

 in the blood to the contraction of the muscle ; and 

 among other remarkable properties in the blood, 

 he pointed out the coincidence, that when a man 

 was killed by lightning, the muscle did not stiffen 

 in death, that is, it did not contract, neither did 

 the blood coagulate. 



The next step of Mr. Hunter was to combat 

 those who would represent the body as bearing a 

 resemblance to machinery moved by a weight. 

 In the machine, he said, the weight of the jack- 

 stone is conveyed from one lever to another, and 

 from one wheel to another ; but what is there in 



