LECTURE VI. 04y 



vital phasnomena oblige us to admit that 

 there is a principle of life pervading the 

 blood, so that Mr. Hunter's opinions on that 

 subject cannot well be disputed, and appear 

 to be fully established by Sir H. Davy's 

 discoveries. Yet his opinion of the coagu- 

 lation of the blood being occasioned by 

 its vitality has neither been proved by 

 himself, nor disproved by others. It is a 

 detached, opinion making no part of the 

 general discussion relative to the vitality of 

 the blood ; and therefore it is strange that 

 so much has been said and written about 

 it. Those who do not understand, or who 

 dislike Mr. Hunter's opinions, have in ge- 

 neral furiously assailed this detached and 

 seemingly unsupported one, yet without in 

 the least injuring or altering it ; whilst 

 others, who are advocates for Mr. Hunter's 

 theories, have hurried to its defence, as if 

 all would be lost should this single opinion 

 be destroyed. Thus both parties seem to 

 have been led away from the main subject. 

 How seldom do we consider propositions 

 with the deliberate exercise of those powers 

 of observation and reason with which we are 

 endowed ? We are partial to our opinions, 



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