LECTURE IV. 175 



their different vital affections ; that it per- 

 vaded certain fluids, which it could either 

 modify, decompose, or recombine, and 

 thus produce the extreme variety of new 

 substances, that may and do result from 

 one kind of nutritive and universally dis- 

 tributed fluid. He had no mode to ex- 

 press the idea ; nor could any one dis- 

 cover a better than by saying, that spe- 

 cific and peculiar actions will produce 

 specific and peculiar secretions. I have 

 already told you. Gentlemen, how these 

 terms were cavilled at. Mr. Hunter 

 thought, that the vital principle was parti- 

 cularly accumulated in the brain, in those 

 animals which possessed such an organ, 

 and that it seemed in them a kind of source 

 of vital energies, and that the nerves were 

 internunciate chords, by which the affec- 

 tions of life were reciprocally communicated. 

 The verification of Mr. Hunter's opinions 

 must interest all, because they show how 

 justly we may infer causes, by the indus- 

 trious observation, and patient and accurate 

 contemplation of effects ; and therefore the 

 result is. creditable to human intellect, and 



