LIFE IN NATURE. 



power ? Taking the body as it stands, supposing it 

 originated, developed, and nourished, by means which 

 we do not now consider, we ask ourselves, Can we 

 find the reason of its spontaneous activity? why 

 action should go on within it, and force be exerted 

 by it on the world around? 



There is a term Ave shall find it convenient to use 

 in this inquiry, and may, therefore, briefly define. 

 The actions of a living body are called its " func- 

 tions." One of these functions is muscular motion, 

 whether external or internal ; another is the nervous 

 action; and a third includes various processes of 

 secretion. The growth and nourishment of the body 

 we do not include among the " functions," as we 

 propose to use the term. 



We inquire, then, why the living body has in 

 itself a power of acting, and is not like the inert 

 masses of merely inorganic matter? And here let 

 us first observe, that some other things besides the 

 animal body possess an active power. " It died last 

 night," exclaimed the Chinaman, in triumph, on 

 selling the first watch he had ever seen. And 

 certainly a watch is like an animal in some respects. 



