i22 



moting the progress of science, who object 

 to every thing new, and suggest nothing, 

 boldly asserted them to be absurd. They sage- 

 ly observed it was impossible that there could 

 be any peculiarity of action ; because ves- 

 sels could only act more or less forcibly or 

 frequently. Now when Mr. Hunter makes 

 use of the phrase peculiar action of vessels, 

 I am sure he meant more than he ex- 

 pressed, and employs it only on account of 

 brevity. For he thought that life was the 

 cause of the actions of vessels ; that it 

 pervaded the fluid blood, and the gelati- 

 nous and albuminous solids; that it built 

 up the very organisation by which it 

 effected its subsequent functions ; that the 

 life of vessels could modify their con- 

 tents : that life was the cause of the various 

 secretions, and the forms and phenomena 

 we observe both in health and disease, 



I am persuaded Mr. Hunter's notions of 



