104 



ed to nutrition and reproduction, 17. Of Life in the polypus; this ani- 

 mal, consisting merely of a sentient and contractile pulp, shaped iiito an 

 alimentary cavity, 18. Of life in worms, 18 in crustaceous animals, its 

 apparatus more perfect, 19. Of life in cold-blooded animals, 19. In 

 warm-blooded animals and in man, 20. General view of the human or- 

 ganization, 20, 21. Of the elementary fibre, 23. Dependence of life 

 on the oxydation of the blood in the lungs, and on the distribution of 

 this vivified blood throughout the organs, 23. 



VI. Of tils Vital Pro/icrfiee ; Sensibility and Contractility, 23. 



These two properties not possessed, in an equal degree, by all living 

 bodies, 23. Modifications of sensibility in different organs, 27. Obser- 

 vations on the contractility of serous membranes, 27. Caloricity, 29. 

 Laws of sensibility, 30. Influence of sieep, of climates, of the seasons,, 

 of the age, &c. on the vital properties, 32, 33, 34. 



* VII. Of Sympathies, 34. 



Of sympathy, 34. Diseases arising from association ; Synergies, 35 5 

 36, 37. 



VIII. Of Habit, 33. 



Of habit, 38. It uniformly Jessens physical sensibility A curious 

 fact showing the effects of habit, 39. Habit impairs the sensitive power 

 but improves the judgment, 41. 



IX. Of the Vital Principle, 42. 







The vital principle, not a being existing by itself, and independently 

 of the actions by which it manifests itself, 42. 'A perpetual struggle in 

 organized bodies, between the laws of the vital principle and those of 

 universal nature, 43. The vital principle resists the laws of chemistry, 

 of physics and mechanics, 43. There takes place, however, in the ani- 

 mal economy, chemical, physical and mechanical phenomena, but they 

 are always modified by the vital principle, 44. Influence of the stature 

 on the energy of the vital powers and even on longevity, 44. Vis Medi- 

 catrix naturae, 44. Theory of inflammation, 46. Analogy between the 

 turgescence of an inflamed part, and of one in a state of erection, as the 

 penis, %c. 48. Indirectly tonic influence of cold, 49. 



X. Of the System of the Great Sympathetic Nerve. 9. 



These nerves are to be considered as connecting the organs of the 

 functions of assimilation, as the cerebral nerves unite those of the exter- 

 nal functions, 49. They are the only nerves found in several animals 

 without vertebra. They arise from all the vertebral nerves, from which 

 they receive filaments, as well as from the sixth cerebral pairs, 50. Gan- 

 glions of the sympathetic nerves; the semi-lunar ganglion, the principal, 

 50. The great sympathetics render the internal organs independent of 

 the will, 51. 



