THE VITAL PRINCIPLE. 33 



and gives it its never ceasing pulsations. It follows the blood 

 to the lungs, and watches over the changes which are wrought 

 there by the atmosphere. It returns with the blood to the 

 heart, and propels it through every part of the system, where 

 it assimilates it to the living body ; and finally, when the liv- 

 ing flesh and bone have served their purpose in the animal 

 system, and the matter is no longer fitted to give strength and 

 life to the part, it is vitality which removes it to make room 

 for fresh particles which this same power has prepared to fill 

 the place. Thus the vital poicer is active during every mo- 

 ment of animal life, in converting dead into living matter, 

 and of removing it when it is no longer fitted to form a part 

 of the living system. It is in the bones and muscles, in the 

 tendons, glands and skin ; it pervades the entire body, and 

 presides over all its healthful changes and operations. 



It distinguishes man from the dust on which he treads. By 

 it he lives and moves ; by it he resists the laws of nature which 

 assail him on every side ; by it he wards off the attacks of 

 disease, or expels it when it has taken possession of his body ; 

 by it he clothes himself again with strength and beauty. It is 

 this vital power within, that, by its constant and all-pervading 

 energy, builds up and keeps in action that wonderful and fear- 

 ful tenement which is his earthly habitation. Nor does it 

 cease its ever active agency during all the' changes and acci- 

 dents of life, until his spirit departs for another world. 



The vital principle exerts a similar influence, though not 

 to the same extent, upon vegetables. It is this power which 

 enables the roots to derive* nourishment from the soil, and the 

 leaves from the air. It aids in carrying up the sap through 

 small tubes to the leaves, where a change is wrought upon it 

 by contact with the atmosphere. It sends the prepared nu- 



* The powers of absorption and circulation of the sap^ to a certain 

 extent, is clue to chemical and mechanical laws, but it is doubtful 

 whether the phenomena can be w^holly explained without the aid of 

 this peculiar power. 



3* 



