MEMOIR OF JOHN BARCLAY. 37 



different in kind, and differently conducted from any 

 that are known, what are we to think ? Can such 

 a mechanism he the cause of feeling, reasoning, and 

 reflection ? or can chemical affinity, without a che- 

 mist of uncommon resources and of extraordinary art 

 and intelligence, produce such a structure ? Some 

 think that they may, and others think not. This dif- 

 ference of opinion was what suggested the Inquiry, 

 the object of which is to collect and state the argu- 

 ments on both sides, to examine the legitimacy and 

 force of these arguments as they occur, and after the 

 Inquirer has given his opinion, to leave the reader 

 to judge for himself. The work consists of four 

 parts; 1st, An account of the philosophical and 

 popular opinions entertained by the ancients con- 

 cerning the nature and the variety of animating causes, 

 and an account of the principal arguments which 

 they employed to prove that these causes originate 

 in matter. 2d, A definition of the terms employed in 

 discussions concerning life and organisation, such 

 as : nature, the elements, forms and qualities, 

 chance, fate, necessity, and matter, &c. 3d, An 

 account of the opinions entertained by those modern 

 physiologists who are either disposed to ascribe the 

 whole phenomena of life, or at least organisation, 

 sensation, and instinct, to the powers of mechanism 

 and the effects of chemical affinities, Paracelsus, 

 Darwin, Leibnitz, Priestley, Buffon, Cuvier, and a 

 number of others. And, 4>th, An account of the 

 opinions of some distinguished ancients and moderns 

 who have ascribed organisation and all the other vital 



