On the Vitality of Matter. 57 



a chemical process are visible to our unassisted sight, they 

 excite no surprise. A piece of sugar rises and falls in a glass 

 of water, bubbles agitate the mass with motions which ap- 

 pear to be inherent, but these phenomena are not suspected 

 of bearing any relation to life. The motions of the eye stone 

 in a plate of vinegar have been attributed to animal life, but 

 as it is a calcareous stone, the motions are obviously re- 

 ferable to the action of the acid upon it, which disengaging 

 a gas, impels it mechanically from side to side. Gaseous 

 particles, disengaged or acquired at the precise point of time 

 when those macerated materials were under examination, by 

 effecting a moving impulse upon them, aided by the refrac- 

 tion of the water, and the minuteness of the particles, might 

 produce a resemblance to life, although by no means a demon- 

 stration that they possess vitality. Further proof is unattain- 

 able, as the subject eludes further inspection. 



We are therefore warranted in doubting the correctness 

 of the inference, that the motions discovered by the micro- 

 scope were attributable to animal hfe : and we are justified 

 in believing that the senses were deluded by appearances re- 

 sembling life which were not life ; inasmuch as the circum- 

 stances under which they were detected, render the evidence 

 of the senses imperfect; and as the conclusions drawn from 

 the analysis are unsupported by analogy throughout the visi- 

 ble creation. 



But if no doubt rested upon the fidelity or capacity of the 

 human senses in this inquiry, and if it were granted that man 

 with his excellent perfections, and the oak with its duration 

 and grandeur, are composed of the identical particles which 

 form the ignoble reptile, and the poisonous weed ; yet we 

 are assailed at this point of the inquiry with the 



II. 'd question, Whether life exists in brute matter? 



If animation were inherent in matter, and the presence of 

 watei were to awaken the principle, why should it leave the 

 monads as soon as it is withdrawn ? and why do they not 

 revive on its reapphcation ? Mr. Edwards expressly states 

 that " they never recover the faculty of locomotion, unless 

 the water, after evaporation, is immediately restored." It is 

 a contradiction to say, that life is inherent in matter, when, 

 by changing its circumstances, it becomes deprived of it, and 

 cannot regain it. What is that but death in its common 



Vol. XV.— No. 1. 8 



