VITAL PRINCIPLE. O71 
of the parts of an organized being, and in regulating the 
motions which are necessary to provide food, remove ob- 
stacles, or repair mjuries, is likewise exerted, in a determi- 
nate manner, in each species propagating individuals of a 
similar kind. Without this resource, the race would pe- 
rish with the dissolution of the primitive stock. It is true, 
that the circumstances under which organized bodies are 
produced, are widely different in the Vegetable and Ani- 
mal Kingdoms, and in the subdivisions of these great tribes. 
But there is at least one point of resemblance. The living 
power is first employed in the formation of the individual ; 
and, during the developement of the several organs, the 
procreative instinct is dormant. But when the organized 
body approaches maturity, there is, as it were, an accumula- 
tion of vital energy, which gives birth to a new individual. 
These different operations of living beings, which we 
have thus briefly enumerated, can never be regarded as the 
effect of their peculiar organization. The organs are formed 
according to a uniform and determined plan, from inorganic 
matter, collected from various sources, and arranged, accord- 
ing to the species, on different models. By what power, 
then, does this organization take place? And what is the 
nature of that principle which regulates animated beings ? 
We have already taken notice of the laws by which it 
is regulated in the constitution, duration, and continuance 
of organized bodies. 'These make us acquainted with the 
existence of a principle, different from any of those which 
the mechanical or chemical philosophers have investigated 
with so much success. This power has been denominated 
The Living or Vital Principle ; and the phenomena which 
it exhibits, are included in our idea of Life or Vitality. 
This vital principle, then, so far as appears to our senses, 
can only reside in organized bodies. 'The connection is 
temporary, and may ‘be dissolved by various circumstances ; 
