AND ANIMAL LIFE. 365 



to possess it ; and it still further must be admit- 

 ted, that this principle is subject to decay and 

 reproduction, to derangement or disease, as its 

 manifestations are deranged or diseased by a va- 

 riety of causes. The soul and its ultimate des- 

 tination are objects for the study of the ethical 

 philosopher ; but their development and foun- 

 dation cannot be traced and proved by the 

 bounded powers of the mind, it is to Revela- 

 tion alone that we must appeal for a knowledge 

 of these great truths. 



CCCCXXXVIII. In examining the qualities 

 of matter completely destitute of the principle 

 of life, we have much to admire. Certain par- 

 ticles combine, and the product is unlike the 

 previous properties of either ; poisons become 

 harmless or beneficial by the addition of a new 

 principle, or different proportions of the same 

 of which they are composed ; salts and crystals 

 have their determinate forms, and it scarcely can 

 be considered less strange, that such substances 

 should exhibit a definite external character, than 

 that arteries and veins should be developed with 

 the same unerring certainty in the animal sys^ 

 tern. 



CCCCXXXIX. It is as difficult to show in 

 what manner, or by what exact laws, crystals have 

 an invariable tendency to assume the varieties 

 of determinate forms, as to explain in what way 

 an artery or vein is organized. The former phe- 



