340 



poles, the areas of the circumpolar continents would be conti- 

 nually lessening, and at the same time the entire mass would 

 tend to assume the figure of an oblate spheroid. Hence, if 

 any land should exist at the equatorial regions due to small 

 irregularities in the earth's surface, the ratio of its area to that 

 of the circumpolar land would, up to a certain limit, be con- 

 tinually increasing. This conclusion is confirmed by that at 

 which Playfair has arrived in his Illustrations of the Huttonian 

 Theory,* although we cannot implicitly confide in the accu- 

 racy of his numerical results, as he has not exhibited the suc- 

 cessive steps of his investigation." 



Mr. Donovan read the first part of a paper " On the uni- 

 versal Vitality of Matter, and its Exaltation into animal and 

 vegetable Life." 



The opinions of the ancient philosophers on this subject 

 were referred to, and it was shown that the vitality of matter 

 was maintained as a fundamental principle in the most cele- 

 brated of the schools of antiquity, and that it has been accre- 

 dited by many in modern times. The author then explained 

 that he was far from attributing to matter any vitality of the 

 kind possessed by animals or even vegetables ; and showed 

 that it is possible to conceive the existence of some of the pro- 

 perties of life in matter, along with a capability of conjunction 

 with others, when circumstances favourable to such a change 

 are present. Examples of this kind were given. He adduced 

 instances in which, by the successive abstraction of properties, 

 vitality of the most exalted character was gradually degraded 

 to the lowest kind of inorganic life. Abstracting from all 

 consideration of an immortal spirit which belongs to man alone, 

 it was shown that life and death are merely relative; that many 

 properties of life are discoverable in death ; that life may be 

 simulated by death, and death by life ; and processes were re- 



* Works, vol. i. p. 489. 



