90-(60) PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGXTFIC A"N"CE OF VITAL FORCE. 



itself known by thought and took its temporary abode 

 in the body, simply as a spectator of vital functions. 



Leibnitz, while admitting a harmony established by 

 Divine power, denied to soul and body any reciprocal in- 

 fluence, saying "the body goes on in its development 

 mechanically and the laws of mechanics are never trans- 

 gressed in its natural motions. Everything takes place 

 in souls as though there were no body, and in the body 

 everything takes place as though there were no soul." 



Lord Bacon also accepted the doctrine of "vital 

 spirits" as applied to both animate and inanimate bodies, 

 the difference, as he says, being that "the spirits of 

 things animate me all continued with themselves and are 

 branched in veins and secret canals as blood is ; and in 

 living things the spirits have not only branches but cer- 

 tain cells or seats where the principal spirits do reside 

 and whereunto the rest do resort ; but the spirits of things 

 inanimate are shut in and cut off by the tangible parts, 

 and are pervious one to another, as air is to snow/' 



"The second main difference is. that the spirits of an- 

 imate bodies are all in some degree more or less kindled 

 and inflamed, and have a fine commixture of flame and 

 aerial substance. But inanimate bodies have their spirits 

 no whit inflamed or kindled ; and this difference consists 

 not in the heat or coldness of spirits, for cloves and other 

 spices * * have exceeding hot spirits (hotter than oil, 

 wax or tallow) but are not inflamed." 



Grlisson believed in " vital spirits intermediate between 

 the soul and organs." and regarded "irritability as a 

 force of which perception and appetite are factors." 



Stall! in the 18th century enunciated the doctrine that 

 chemical forces and "vital force" not only differ from 

 each other but are antagonistic. Chemical forces are des- 

 tructive of the living body, and are held in abeyance, and 

 their disintegrating power is neutralized by a "vital 

 force*' which resides in the body and ministers to its 

 functions. "This vital force, struggling against physi- 

 cal force, nets intelligently, upon a definite plan, for the 

 preservation of the organism :" its triumph secures life, 

 while the rule of the physical forces alone brings death. 



The theories of "vitalism" and "animism" thus took 

 their places among the philosophic ventures of the age. 

 Borden. Barthez and Grimaud, " representing the school 



