MOTION IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 



(in fusion,) without being in reality annihi- 

 lated or even weakened. If we remove the 

 opposing force or resistance, the force of co- 

 hesion appears unchanged in crystallization. 



By means of the .electrical force, or that 

 of heat, we can give the most varied direc- 

 tions to the manifestations of chemical force. 

 By these means we can fix, as it were, the 

 order in which the elementary particles 

 shall unite. Let us remove the cause (heat 

 or electricity) which has turned the balance 

 in favour of the weaker attraction in one 

 direction, and the stronger attraction will 

 show itself continually active in another 

 direction ; and if this stronger attraction can 

 overcome the vis inertiae of the elementary 

 particles, they will unite in a new form, 

 and a new compound of different properties 

 must be the result. 



In compounds of this kind, in which, 

 therefore, the free manifestation o f the 

 chemical force has been impeded by other 

 forces, a blow, or mechanical friction, or the 

 sontact of a substance, the particles of 

 which are in a state of motion (decomposi- 

 tion, transformation,) or any external cause, 

 whose activity is added to the stronger at- 

 traction of the elementary particles in an- 

 other direction, may suffice to give the pre- 

 ponderance to this stronger attraction, to 

 overcome the vis inertise, to alter the form 

 and structure of the compound, which are 

 the result of foreign causes, and to produce 

 the resolution of the compound into one or 

 more Hew compounds with altered proper- 

 ties 



Transformations, or as they may be called", 

 phenomena of motion, in compounds of 

 this class, may be effected by means of the 

 free and available chemical force of another 

 chemical compound, and that without its 

 manifestation being enfeebled or arrested by 

 resistance. Thus the equilibrium in the at- 

 traction between the elements of cane-sugar 

 is destroyed by contact with a very small 

 quantity of sulphuric acid, and it is con- 

 verted into grape-sugar. In the same way 

 we see the elements of starch, under the 

 same influence, arrange themselves with 

 those of water in a new form, while the 

 sulphuric acid, which has served to produce 

 these transformations, loses nothing of its 

 chemical character. In regard toother sub- 

 stances on which it acts, it remains as active 

 as before, exactly as if it had exerted no 

 sort of influence on the cane-sugar or starch. 



In contradistinction to the manifestionsof 

 the so-called mechanical forces, we have 

 recognized in the chemical forces causes of 

 motion and of change in form and structure, 

 without any observable exhaustion of the 

 force by which these phenomena are pro- 

 duced ; but the origin of the continued mani- 

 festation of activity remains still the same; 

 it is the absence of an opposite force (a re- 

 sistance) capable of neutralizing it or bring- 

 ing it into the state of equilibrium. 



As the manifestations of chemical forces 

 (th-* uittuientum of force in a chemical 



compound) seem to depend on a certain 

 order in which the elementary particles are 

 united together, so experience tells us, that 

 the vital phenomena are inseparable from 

 matter; that the manifestations of the vital 

 force in a living part are determined by a 

 certain form of that part, and by a certain 

 arrangement of its elementary particles. If 

 we destroy the form, or alter the composi- 

 tion of the organ, all manifestations of vi- 

 tality disappear. 



There is nothing to prevent us from con- 

 sidering the vital force as a peculiar pio- 

 perty, which is possessed by certain mate- 

 rial bodies, and becomes sensible when their 

 elementary particles are combined in a cer- 

 tain arrangement or form. 



This supposition takes from the vital 

 phenomena nothing of their wonderful pe- 

 culiarity; it may therefore be considered as 

 a resting point, from which an investigation 

 into these phenomena, and the laws which 

 regulate them, may be commenced; exactly 

 as we consider the properties and laws of 

 light to be dependent on a certain luminife- 

 rous matter, or other, which has no further 

 connexion with the laws ascertained by in- 

 vestigation. 



Considered under this form, the vital force 

 unites in its manifestations all the peculiari- 

 ties of chemical forces, and of the not less 

 wonderful cause, which we regard as the 

 ultimate origin of electrical phenomena. 



The vital force does not act, like the force 

 of gravitation or the magnetic force, at in-, 

 finite distances, but, like chemical forces, itj 

 is active only in the case of immediate con-j 

 _tact. It becomes sensible by means of an" 

 "aggregation of material particles. 



A living part acquires, on the above sup- 

 position, the capacity of offering and of 

 overcoming resistance, by the combination 

 of its elementary particles in a certain form ; 

 and as long as its form and composition are 

 not destroyed by opposing forces, it must re- 

 tain its energy uninterrupted and unimpaired. 



When, by the act of manifestation of this 

 energy in a living part, the elements of the 

 food are made to unite in the same form and 

 structure as the living organ possesses, then 

 these elements acquire the same powers. 

 By this combination, the vital force inherent 

 in them is enabled to manifest itself freely, 

 and may be applied in the same way as that 

 of the previously existing tissue. 



If, now, we bear in mind, that all matters 

 which serve as food to living organisms are 

 compounds of two or more elements, which 

 are kept together by certain chemical forces; 

 if we reflect that in the act of manifestation 

 offeree in a living tissue, the elements of 

 the food a're made to combine in a new 

 order; it is quite certain thai the momen- 

 tum of force or of motion in the vital force 

 was more powerful than the chemical at- 

 traction existing between the elements of the 

 food.* 



* The hands of a man. who raises with 



