14^ MEMOIRS OF 



force of malady; and other adages; many of 

 which are only true in a very limited sense, and 

 in a very different manner from that which they 

 seem to offer at the first glance. ... In propor- 

 tion as the knowledge of astronomy, physics, 

 and chemistry has been extended, these sciences 

 have renounced the false reasoning which re- 

 sulted from the application of this figurative lan- 

 guage to real phenomena. Some physiologists 

 only have continued to use it, because the ob- 

 scurity in which physiology is still enveloped, 

 renders it necessary to attribute some reality to 

 the phantoms of abstraction, in order to practise 

 illusion on themselves and others, concerning 

 their profound ignorance as touching vital mo- 

 tion. 



" Nevertheless, this antient idea of an active 

 but subordinate principle, distinct from ordinary 

 forms, and the laws of motion which should 

 preside over organisation, and which should keep 

 it in order, still prevails, not only in language, 

 but in the systems of a great many writers, who, 

 although they allow the justice of the distinc- 

 tions we have now made, yet suffer themselves 

 to be drawn unconsciously towards doctrines 

 which have no other foundation. Such are the 

 doctrines of the ' Scale of Nature,' the * Unity 



