LECTURE I. 27 



Mr. Hunter was the first physiologist 

 who placed in clear array the various vital 

 functions before our view, so as to enable 

 us to judge of their nature and probable 

 cause. He told us that life was a great 

 chemist, and even in a seemingly quiescent 

 state, had the power of resisting the ope- 

 ration of external chemical agency, and 

 thereby preventing the decomposition of 

 those bodies in which it resided. Thus seeds 

 may lie buried far beneath the surface of 

 the earth for a great length of time with- 

 out decaying, but being thrown up, they 

 vegetate. Mr. Hunter shewed us that this 

 chemist. Life, had the power of regulating 

 the temperature of the substances in which 

 it resides. Seeds possessing the principle 

 of life being placed within the influence of 

 the atmosphere, and in contact with mois- 

 ture, produce heat, form sugar to edulcorate 

 the first nutriment of the young plant, and 

 in short, bring about all those phsenomena 

 which characterize incipient vegetation. 

 He further shewed us, that Life, by its che- 

 mical processes, could convert a great va- 

 riety of dissimilar substances, into one kind 



