LECTURE I. 45 



surface. Food may also be received into 

 the stomach, and the circulation in that 

 organ go on as usual, yet its organization 

 does not cause digestion, unless vital actions 

 regulate those electrical operations upon 

 which the preparation of the food-dissolving 

 juices of that organ depend. On the con- 

 trary, I may observe, that Comparative 

 Anatomy informs us, the same vital pro- 

 cesses of the prevention of decomposition, 

 regulation of temperature, action, assimi- 

 lation and growth are effected in structures 

 extremely diversified : and further, that 

 observations on disease demonstrate the 

 perverted actions of the same structures to 

 produce a great variety of effects, which is 

 a proof that the actions of life do not de- 

 pend merely on organization. 



I will not condescend to particularize or 

 parry the absurd attempts that have been 

 made to ridicule Mr. Hunter's Theory of 

 Life. I will only inquire why we are to be 

 prohibited from thinking, if we conform to 

 the most approved rules of ratiocination ? 



