Literary Notices. 377 



with which certain functions are performed, and he shows that 

 alcohol, by hardening the ontside layer of cells, diminishes the supply 

 of nutriment that reaches the germinal matter, and thus checks the 

 excess of action that is doing harm. 



Having assailed the sham explanations of ordinary physiologists 

 about " diminution of vital force," " irritation," etc., it is curious to 

 find Dr. Beale reverting to the style of argument in which the 

 purgative action of jalap was " explained," by asserting that the 

 drug possessed a " cathartic principle;" and yet this is done in a 

 paper that will be found in the Archives of Medicine. Dr. Beale says, 

 " It seems to me probable that the most minute living particle 

 which it is possible to conceive, is a spherule, and this spherule is 

 capable of altering its form. I believe that the alteration results 

 from the influence of wonderful inferent powers, of the nature of 

 which we know nothing as yet, which wonderful powers may at 

 least for the present be termed ' vital,' to distinguish them from 

 physical and chemical properties." In another passage Dr. Beale 

 says, " I have endeavoured to show that the power of movement 

 resides in the living particles themselves, and have expressed the 

 opinion that these movements cannot be explained by physics 

 or chemistry." In another paper the whole fabric of modern 

 science, with its conservation and correlation of forces, is assailed 

 to make way for the return of the old metaphysical assumption, 

 " vital force," which Dr. Beale affirms to be something quite 

 distinct from chemical or physical force in any form. He com- 

 plains that " vital power no longer excites the speculation of the 

 physiologist or the wonder of the profound metaphysician;" but 

 if it has ceased to do, it is simply because men have dis- 

 covered that " vital force " is a phrase to cover ignorance, not a 

 term denoting a precise thing. There is no special mystery in vital 

 force, if it designates the power that is manifested in living beings. 

 All force is equally mysterious. Scientifically we know nothing of 

 the primary cause, origin, or action of any force whatever. We 

 know that a certain force is, and we find out a few of its rela- 

 tions of antecedence or consequence, and when we come to the 

 highest actions we know of, those of mind and consciousness, we 

 have not the faintest idea why or how the Divine Being has linked 

 them, in our case, with what are called vital actions of an organism. 

 When Dr. Beale states that living particles must possess an 

 " inherent moving power," Ave do not know what he means. Would 

 they move under any conditions, and in any medium, as they do 

 under particular conditions, and in a particular medium ? If not, 

 they are under the influence of surrounding circumstances, and 

 their motions would appear to be, not an inherent faculty, but the 

 result of their acting, and being acted upon, by matter external to 

 themselves. Nothing is gained by assuming that they are governed 

 by vital forces, " of the nature of which we know nothing," to 

 the exclusion of all the forces of which — so far as their manifesta- 

 tions go — we know a little. It is because wo admire Dr. Beale's 

 great talent, and appreciate his services, that we urge him not to 

 tumble into the old quagmire of substituting imaginary metaphy- 



