INTRODUCTION. 



Of the Organical Sciences. 



FT1 HOUGH the general notion of life is acknow- 

 I ledged by the most profound philosophers to be 

 dim and mysterious, even up to the present time ; 

 and must, in the early stages of human speculation, 

 have been still more obscure and confused ; it was 

 sufficient, even then, to give interest and connexion 

 to men's observations upon their own bodies and 

 those of other animals. It was seen, that in living 

 things, certain peculiar processes were constantly 

 repeated, as those of breathing and of taking food, 

 for example ; and that a certain conformation of 

 the parts of the animal was subservient to these 

 processes; and thus were gradually formed the 

 notions of Function and of Organization. And the 

 sciences of which these notions formed the basis 

 are clearly distinguishable from all those which we 

 have hitherto considered. We conceive an organ- 

 ized body to be one in which the parts are there for 

 the sake of the whole, in a manner different from 

 any mechanical or chemical connexion ; we conceive 

 a function to be not merely a process of change, but 

 of change connected with the general vital process. 

 When mechanical or chemical processes occur in the 

 living body, they are instrumental to, and directed 

 VOL. in. E E 



