^^r^ 



Id form 

 ^y itself wit:- 



soff 



al vitality.'] 

 '^tic notion, 

 1 things- 

 lification 



•ar 



5 



eSj and whid 

 ^\''ordswortli i 



Tied 



nov 



ed 



Sub-'itS 



the stars 



5 



louds ; 



bbly stone 



ed upon 



tie^: 



3 



livin 

 Xature 



thins • 



> 



) 



-e, 



le 



con 



i 



trarf) 



incipl^: 



iJi 





THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



59 



presumed to preside over the processes of nutrition and 

 was known by the name Archaus. The doctrines of 

 Paracelsus were more especially developed by his dis- 

 ciple Van Helmont, who sought to explain all the phe- 



^e that shal' nomena of Life by the occurrence of chemical changes 



in the organism taking 



place under the guidance of 



this distinct spiritual entity or ^ Arch^us/ whose place 

 of abode was the cardiac orifice of the stomach. The 

 ^Archceus^ of Van Helmont, however, was only on^^ 

 though the chief, of many ^ vital spirits,' which were 

 allotted severally to each organ of the body. In health 

 there was supposed to be a harmonious action of these 

 various ^ vital spirits,^ whilst disease was a result of 

 their discord. But whether the *^ vital principle^ was 



looked upon as a something altogether peculiar and 

 independent, or as an integral part of the general *^Soul 



F 



of Nature," in either case the organism as an organism 

 was supposed to have owed its nature and peculiarities 



to the influence and 

 principle.' 



active working of the 



vital 



Then, in all but modern 



times. Life was 



the 



greater number of physiologists looked upon as a con- 

 sequence rather than as a cause of organization ; whilst 

 ^vitaP actions, or the phenomena presented by living 

 beings, were supposed to be altogether special in kind 

 to be the peculiar manifestations of the inherent acti- 

 vity of the organized body, and to have no necessary 

 relationship with the physical forces of the inorganic 

 world. Later still, as we have seen, this view gradually 



