ON THE VITAL PRINCIPLE. 7 



privation of life, the importance of which becomes 

 instantly evident when it is no more. I humbly con- 

 ceive therefore, that if the human understanding can 

 in any case flatter itself with obtaining, in the natural 

 world, a glimpse of the immediate agency of the Deity, 

 it is in the contemplation of this vital principle, which 

 seems independent of material organization, and an 

 impulse of his own divine energy. 



