6o THE NOMENCLATURE 



fenfes, his dedudlions concerning them have been ^ 

 drawn from comparifon and analogy. He dif- I 

 covered that there exirts in matter a general || 

 force, differ. 'lit from that of impnlfion, a force :i 

 which falls not under the cognilance of our fenfes, ,. 

 and which, though we are incapable of ufing it, ;' 

 Nature employs as her univerfal agent. He has ;; 

 demonllrated, that this force belongs equally to || 

 all n. alter, in proportion to its mafs or real quan- '■ 

 tity ; and that its aftion extends to immenfe ii 

 diftances, decreafing as the fpaces aug'riLnit. 

 Then, turning his views upon living beings, he 

 perceived that heat was another force neceflary 

 to their produdion; that light was a matter en- 

 dowed with infinite elaflic'ry and adivitv; that 

 the formation and expanfion of organized bo- 

 dies were efletfts of a combination of all thefe 

 forces; that the extenfion and growth of ani- j; 

 mals and vegetables follow the lavvs of the at- 'l 

 tradive force, and are effeded by an augmenta- '» 

 tion in the three dimenfions at the fame time ; i' 

 and that a mould, when once formed, muft, by '» 

 thefe laws of affinity, produce a fucceffion of o- ■ 

 ther moulds perfedly fimilar'to the original, i 

 By combining thefe attributes, common to the ; 

 animal and vegetable, he recognifed, that there it 

 exifted in both an inexhauftible, circulating ftore ■ 

 of organic fubftance; a fubftance equally real as '; 

 brute matter; a fubftance which continues al- • 

 ways in a live as the other does in a dead ftate; a : 

 (ubllance univerfally diffufed, which paifes from 



vegetables 



