96 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



this agent, which is every where diffused, till the 

 brain and spinal marrow can perform their func- 

 tions, and which may continue to supply their 

 place where they never exist."* Throughout 

 this chapter I have endeavoured to show that it 

 is to alterations in the mode of circulation, or in 

 the qualities of the blood, that the different phe- 

 nomena of the digestive process must be attribut- 

 ed ; and, still farther, that all secretions depend on 

 the sanguiferous system for the extent and acti- 

 vity of their functions : and this reasoning, al- 

 though opposed to the generally received princi- 

 ples, was found to be supported by the disorders 

 induced in the respiration and circulation, and in 

 the evident disease or derangement of the lungs, 

 in all the experiments brought forward. 



LXXX1II. The division which BICHAT has 

 supported of animal and organic life does not apply 

 strictly to the foetus. It does not require a sys- 

 tem of nerves to elevate or depress the ribs, to give 

 motion and sensibility to the body, so that it may 

 be locomotive or taught by its sensations to pre- 

 serve itself; and as the senses are shut from the ex- 

 ternal world, the brain is unessential to its present 

 situation. It, therefore, possesses chiefly organic 

 life ; and at this period, although complex and 

 varied in its organization, it is almost as uncom- 

 pounded as a vegetable, and regulated by nearly 

 similar laws. The difference between the foetus 

 * Dr WILSON PHILIP on the Vital Functions, p. 241. 



