EEVIVAL OF THE VITAL PRINCIPLE AS FORCE. 223 



the inconsistencies of an hypothesis which is never 

 really expressed in intelligible terms, and from what 

 has been said of the want of directive or formative 

 powers in all force, Dr. Beale's arguments against the 

 school who uphold protein, animated by a peculiar 

 force correlative with heat and motion, as constituting 

 living matter, are in reality superfluous. It is more to- 

 the purpose to notice that those who assume to be 

 representatives of the material theory of life, and ridi- 

 cule Dr. Beale's separable vital powers, do really them- 

 selves revive the old vital principle under a new name 

 when they speak of a formative or constructive force 

 residing in living beings. Or if that is not their 

 meaning, they express themselves in a manner certain 

 to mislead. Of this I have already* given examples 

 taken from Dr. Carpenter's " Correlation of the Physical 

 and Vital Forces/'f where he speaks of " organizing 

 force," " constructive force," and "various forms of vital 

 force," which are said to be derived from external 

 heat and from food, all which terms and expressions 

 are quite inadmissible. Sir James PagetJ also speaks- 

 of a " formative or vital force by which the energy in 

 food is directed in transforming the matter of food." 

 This force in the adult is, he says, the same " which 

 actuated the formation of the original tissues in the 

 development of the germ and of the embryo " (46). 

 Again, he says that this " vital or formative force is in 

 constant operation," and "under its direction," forms 

 and dimensions are assumed which depend also on the 



* " Life and Equivalence of Force," p. 190. 



t "Quarterly Journal of Science," 1864. 



j " Lectures on Surgical Pathology," 3rd edit., 1870. 



