FORM, 
u r at the utmoft b eae. 
ae of the volunteers, of all claffes, are eee into ca 
is called the ‘ ftorming-party,”’ to which any neceffary au 
mentation is fupplied from choice corps, ad efpecially by 
the grenadiers of the army $ it being a poft of honour. 
O Forma, in Pah fics, denotes the manner of 
being peculiar to each body; or that which conttitutes it 
uch a particular body, and diftinguifhes it from every 
other. r. Har aie pea eed term ~— likewife in another 
fenfe, as an efficie ing principle ; to which he fup- 
pofes Ovid to in ae in othe ‘int ine on his Metamerhotn 
‘¢ Tn nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas 
Corpora——”’ 
Thefe animating forms are of themielves no objects ei- 
ther of the ear, or of the eye; but their nature or cha- 
racter is underftood in this, that. were they never to exert 
_ ee energies gn their proper fubjects, the aie 
which the {cu sulptor Slay his art would remain for 
ever Thaclefa, a nd the harp eas the baer oan 
forth founds would remain bea ever filen 
Thus, alfo, the animating form of a natural body is nei- 
ther its organization, nor its figure, nor any other of thofe 
inferior forms, which make up the fyftem of its vifible qua- 
lities; but it is the power, pe : hi able to produce, 
pr refer, ae sa pe th fe It i 
s aman; 
by which dee ons is performed in plants ane auiinals, and, 
which departing, the body ceafes to live, and its members 
putrify ; and by thei iota) being produces another like 
itfelf, and every is continued. In animals, it is 
that aia? faculty, ach by employing the organs of 
culiar to them as alee Paral ery them as 
o that 
enfe 
fenfitive bein s from vegetables 5 mor 
forts of forms, thofe which are aa eee and thofe 
which are efficient caufes. nd < m agree in this, 
i its peculiar and diftintive 
f 
pears in part to 
caufe, i. e. a caufe which aflociates the conttituent elements 
of natural fubftance, and which employs them, when affo- 
ciated, according to their various and peculiar characters. 
Harris’ s Phil. Arrangements, chap. vi. 
The ae aad adie ] - two principles of bo- 
ae matter. common r fubftratum of all; 
orm, - iat wi . ipecites, a Ries Speen sate 
oa which, added tity of c » de- 
termines or deren it he or oe ; resed, or ane or 
afhes, &c 
Subftantial forms feem to have been firft broached by the 
followers of Ariftotle, who thought matter, under differ. 
ent modes or modifications, not fufficient to conftitute 
differeat erie v that fomething fubftantial was = 
ceflary to fet them at a greater diftance: aud thus in 
ftantial ou on ic footing of fouls, which 
{peci vas diftinguifh animals. 
The confiderations which aN Peripatetics age oat 
infift on, in confirmation of this doétrine, are Th 
eihoue fubftantial forms, all caval things au be of 
nal fame ipecies, nature, and effence; which is fuppofced 
gs an abfu 
hat ae thing has its peculiar a motion, and 
t of a attracting 
only paffive ; nor from the 
dents: and therefore that it mutt arife from a- fabftantial 
m 
3. That without fubftantial forms, there would be no 
eae : for a prodution of accidents is ae an alter- 
4. That Hila ao form, the nature of a man and of 
a lion would n 
What seer nape to their error, was the circume 
cere of life and death; for obferving, that, as foon as 
he foul was ig la ut of a man, all motion, refpira- 
aa, nutriti mediately ceafed, they concluded 
that all thofe’ funtion psa : on the ue aud con- 
ieaneatly that the 
or that which conftitu was a fol 
ftance, independent of matter, nobod oubted; and 
hence the forms of other bodies were concluded equally 
fubftantial. 
ut to this it is anfwered, that though the foul be that 
y which a man is man, an confequently i is the form of 
the haa body, as hu ame 3 yet it does not follow, that 
it is properly the ae of this b body of our’s, as it is a 
body ; nor of the feveral parts thereof, confidered as dif- 
ting from each other. nave their 
» long after the foul is aed. as well as. be~ 
fore. 
The truth is, the body does not become incapable « of per= 
forming its accuftomed fu abe becaufe the foul has de- 
ferted it ; ; but the foul takes its leave e, a the body 
is not in a condition to ii form 
he ancient at 110 ie pilatopher, there- 
fore, with the Ca de the n of fubftan 
tetians, exclu 
tial forms; and fhew many aeanente a the jaa 
is only the modus or manner of the body it is inherent 
And as there are ee three ell modes of matter, viz. 
Sale reft, and motio one be others arifing there. 
a fituation, che ane rms o 
dies ae hola . “confift saa rein ; and e the varia- 
tions thefe modes are capa » fuffici ent to pena all he, 
"Gee anes 
globe from a cube in inet and tran{parent glafs, being 
pulverized, will reflec ight, and appear white; and 
ll the alteration cath order and arrange- 
ment of the parts; when wheat is ground into flour, all 
the change confifts in’a feparation of the contiguous parts 5. 
and when the flour is baked into bread, what is it but the 
fame particles affociated ae in another manner ? 
agitating water, a frot if the agitations be 
increafed, the pes wil hae aa oS clond 83 whi igh 
ed again, return in dew, fnow, hail or rain s 
the acceffion of cold might hav 
many different bodies, endaes 
with different qualities, and which the Peripatetica them- 
felves allow fpecifically different, arife from one and the 
fame body, by mere motion and re 
~ The - 
