THE 



PHENOMENA OF MOTION 



IN THE 



ANIMAL ORGANISM. 



I. 



IT might appear an unprofitable task to add one more 

 to the innumerable forms under which the human intel- 

 lect has viewed the nature and essence of that peculiar 

 cause, which must be considered as the ultimate source 

 of the phenomena which characterize vegetable and 

 animal life, were it not that certain conceptions present 

 themselves as necessary deductions from the views on 

 this subject developed in the introduction to the first 

 part of this work. The following pages will be devoted 

 to a more detailed examination of these deductions. It 

 must be admitted here, that all these conclusions will 

 lose their force and significance, if it can be proved that 

 the cause of vital activity has, in its manifestations, 

 nothing in common with other known causes which 

 produce motion or change of form and structure in 

 matter. 



But a comparison of its peculiarities with the modus 

 operandi of these other causes, cannot, at all events, 

 fail to be advantageous, inasmuch as the nature and 

 16* 



