372 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



matter will then appear to be, that in the one in- 

 stance the particles are permanently arranged 

 and continue to exhibit their proper character, as 

 we term it, until by ingenuity and practice, some 

 means are found to withdraw the arranging or 

 uniting influence ; and then the matter is chemi- 

 cally dissolved : resolves into its elements, and 

 forms new combinations : whilst the life continues, 

 not simply to arrange the particles, and to give 

 them the order or organization of the animal 

 body, but to whirl them in a series of revolutions, 

 during all which the material is passive, the law 

 being in the life. The order and succession of 

 these changes and their duration do not result 

 from the material of the frame, which is the same 

 in all animals, but from that influence which we 

 term life, and which is superadded to the material. 



