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LIFE. 
ment, the tibia and fibula. Its tendon runs 
close to the inner ankle and tarsal bones, and 
_ where it slides under the astragalus, is thick- 
ened by a cartilaginous or bony deposit within 
its fibres, analogous in force and use to the 
sesamoid bones in other situations. Its action 
__ is to extend the foot upon the leg, and to turn 
: the sole of the foot inwards. 
-_; 
(A. T. 8. Dodd.) 
LIFE.—Few abstract terms have been em- 
ployed in a greater variety of significations, or 
_ more frequently without any definite meaning 
at all, than the one now to be considered. 
_ And there is none regarding which it is more 
_ €ssential to possess correct ideas, in order to 
attain the fundamental truths of physiological 
science. 
_ very erroneous notions on this subject, will 
The prevalence of what we deem 
oblige us to follow a different plan in its treat- 
Ment, from that which we should have adopted 
_ if our duty had been merely to give an expo- 
sition of the present state of our knowledge 
Tespecting it. We shall commence by offering 
| a short statement of our own views, in order 
_ that we may, in the brief historical summary 
_ which it will be proper to include in this ar- 
ticle, more concisely indicate what we regard 
as the errors and inconsistencies of the prin- 
cipal theories which have obtained credit at 
various times. We shall subsequently con- 
_ sider more in detail some of the questions 
_ which require fuller discussion. 
I. Genera views.—We shall define Lire 
to be the state of action peculiar to an or- 
_ganised body or organism. This state com- 
-Mences with the first production of the germ; 
_ itis manifested in the phenomena of growth 
and reproduction; and it terminates in the 
_ death of the organised structure, when its 
component parts are disintegrated, more or less 
. completely, by the operation of the com- 
mon laws of matter. This definition differs 
_ but little from that given in many physiological 
_ works—* Life is the sum of the actions of an 
' organised being;” and we apprehend that we 
are more in accordance with the common usage 
_ of the term, in employing it to designate rather 
_ the state or condition of the being exhibiting 
_ those actions, than the actions themselves. 
_ this sense alone it is properly contrary to Death, 
In 
the condition of an organised body in which 
not only have its peculiar actions ceased, but 
its distinguishing properties been abolished 
(see Deatu); and it is then also contradistin- 
guished from dormant vitality, a state fre- 
quently observed, in which living actions are 
suspended, but the vital properties of the or- 
-ganism retained, so as to be capable of again 
exhibiting them when the requisite conditions 
are supplied. 
Life or vital activity, then, manifests itself to 
us in a great variety of ways,—in all those phe- 
nomena, in short, which it is the province of 
_the physiologist to consider. The changes ex- 
hibited by any one living being, in its normal 
condition at least, have one manifest tendency, 
, 
141 
the preservation of its existence as a perfect 
structure; by these it is enabled to counteract 
the ever-operating influence of chemical and 
physical laws, and to resist, to a greater or less 
extent, the injurious effects of external agen- 
cies. The first inquiry, then, which we have 
to make, in the inductive study of physiology, 
is into the conditions of these phenomena; and 
as in this process we follow precisely the same 
track as that over which the physical philo- 
sopher has already passed, we may advantage- 
ously avail ourselves of his guidance in it. 
In seeking to establish the laws by which 
the universe is governed, or, in other words, 
to obtain general expressions of the conditions 
under which its changes take place, the en- 
quirer first collects, by observation or expe- 
riment,* a sufficient number of instances having 
an obvious relation“to one another, with the 
view of determining the circumstances com- 
mon to all. The facility with which this pro- 
cess is performed will obviously depend upon 
the simplicity of the phenomena, and the rea- 
diness with which they admit of comparison. 
Where their antecedents are uniformly the 
same, they only need to be associated a suf- 
ficient number of times, for the mind to be 
satisfied of the constancy of the relation; and 
the general law of the effects is easily deduced. 
Thus, the law of gravitation is ascertained by 
the comparison of a number of corresponding 
but not identical phenomena; and the nume- 
rical ratio is established which governs the 
attracting force. To extend the application of 
this law, however, to phenomena that seemed 
beyond its pale, required the almost super- 
human genius of a Newton; but the idea, once 
conceived, was easily carried out when the re- 
quisite data were attained. But what is the 
nature of the aw of which we have just spo- 
ken as regulating the attractive force? It is 
simply an expression of the property with 
which the Creator has endowed all forms of 
matter, that its masses shall attract or tend to 
approach each other in a degree which varies 
in a certain ratio to their mass and distance. 
This property, it must be recollected, is only 
assumed to exist, as the common cause of the 
actions constantly occurring under our notice. 
If none of these actions were witnessed by 
man,—if, for example, but one mass of matter 
existed in the universe,—it might be endowed 
with this and every other property which we 
are accustomed to regard as essential to matter; 
and yet, from gravitation never being called 
into action, the mind would remain ignorant 
of the attribute. 
Such a common cause, the conditions of 
whose action are so simple and uniform that 
we can account for, and even predict, by a 
process of deduction, all the phenomena which 
It can operate to produce, may be regarded for 
a time as an ultimate fact. It may still, how- 
ever, be capable of union with other facts of a 
* For the proper distinction between these modes 
of research, and their respective applications to 
physiology, see Brit. and For. Med. Review, 
April 1838, pp. 320 et seq. 
