LECTURE I. 33 



of electricity through the air. That the 

 powers of life regulate electrical actions is 

 evident ; and may they not in this manner 

 produce some of those variations of tem- 

 perature to which I have just referred? 

 But admitting that the refined operations 

 of modern chemistry should actually shew 

 us the means by which the variations of 

 temperature are in every instance pro- 

 duced, they would not explain the cause 

 of those actions by which such means are 

 rendered efficient ; which actions constitute 

 the essential difference between living and 

 dead bodies. 



Neither would chemical science, by ex- 

 plaining the regulation of temperature, un- 

 fold the cause of the other vital phasno- 

 mena ; for instance, the prevention of pu- 

 trefaction and irritability. The heat of in- 

 cubation would hurry on the putrefaction 

 of a dead egg, biit the white and yolk of a 

 living one, which we cannot suppose to be 

 organized, do not putrify, though they un- 

 dergo changes subservient to the nutrition 

 of the young animal they are designed to 



D 



