368 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



poverished or ill-conditioned brain, indifferent 

 to the pleasures of society, the joys of sense, and 

 almost every tie that binds the soul to earth. 



CCCCXLII. Dead animal or vegetable sub- 

 stances cannot in the least be likened to brute or 

 inert matter. The former contain the remains 

 of those principles that were deemed vital in 

 their operation and effects, viz. the circulating 

 fluids, which are proper to every part of the organ- 

 ized system. As these principles, a few seconds 

 before death, were capable of maintaining the 

 various functions of the living economy, it can 

 scarcely be denied that immediately after this 

 event the properties of the fluids are unchanged. 

 This argument is, in some measure, illustrated 

 in the recovery of individuals from drowning, in 

 transfusion, or certain accidents. Dead animal 

 or vegetable substances, although inorganic, are 

 not destitute of those material principles which 

 supported the complex functions of animal or 

 vegetable life ; and these, therefore, when free 

 from organic laws, quickly undergo what is 

 called decomposition, which is owing to the 

 formation of other combinations, and, in conse- 

 quence of these changes, life appears again under 

 a variety of aspects. 



CCCCXLII1. The various organs of the body 

 possess different degrees of vitality in proportion 

 to the quantity of the circulating fluid they re- 

 ceive ; and may also be considered vital accord- 



