188 DR. PHILIP ON THE NATURE OF DEATH. 



is evident, equally, though not so immediately, depends on the agents which excite the 

 latter. Hence the harmony which exists between the living powers of the animal body 

 and the powers of inanimate nature. There is nothing in common in the nature of 

 these powers ; but the organs of the former, being composed of the same materials 

 with the world which surrounds us, can be excited by no means but the agents which 

 operate in that world ; and on what principle could we expect any other result ? 



These organs themselves are a part of inanimate nature. Deprived of their vital 

 powers, they may still, as far as we see, be perfect in all their parts. On what their 

 vital powers depend, we know not. In the study of these powers, and the relation they 

 bear to the other powers of nature, we must be satisfied to take the facts as we find 

 them. And what other knowledge have we of the inanimate powers themselves? Do 

 we know more of the nature of gravitation or electricity than of life ? It is the pro- 

 perties, not the essences, of things which are the objects of our senses. Our nature 

 must be changed before the latter can be made a subject of inquiry. Life is a certain 

 train of phenomena, depending on the peculiar state of its organs, produced by the 

 action of the same agents, which operate in other parts of nature, on the material 

 organs of our frame. We may arrange these phenomena in the way that best assists 

 the memory, and best shows their relation to each other and the other phenomena of 

 nature ; but no task can be more hopeless than the attempt to proceed one step further, 

 either with respect to the living powers or any other principle of action. Such an 

 attempt is beyond not merely the limits, but the nature, of our minds. It is the blind 

 attempting a knowledge of colours. 



When we say we understand any of the phenomena of nature, we only mean that 

 we are able to class them with other similar phenomena. We say that we know why 

 a stone falls to the ground, because we class its fall with the other phenomena of gra- 

 vitation. With regard to the phenomena of animal life, we at once see the limit of 

 our inquiries, because it is self-evident that these phenomena exist nowhere but in the 

 living animal, and consequently that there is no more general principle to which they 

 can be referred ; a position so evident that it is difficult to understand how it could 

 ever have been overlooked. 



It is customary to speak of life as a subject of peculiar mystery. But if what has 

 just been said be correct, we have precisely the same means of acquaintance with it 

 as with the other powers of nature. Its phenomena are as open to observation and 

 experiment as the phenomena of any of these powers ; and we possess no information 

 respecting any of them but such as is derived from those sources. The greater appear- 

 ance of mystery arises, not from the greater obscurity of the nature of life, but from its 

 phenomena bearing less analogy to those of the other powers of nature than these bear 

 to each other ; in consequence of which the former are less familiar objects of contem- 

 plation. Simple as such observations are, they cannot be regarded as superfluous, 

 when we see them overlooked by such writers as Hartley, Hunter, and others of 

 almost equal name. 



