‘ 
FUNCTION. 
defined, itfelf in variable motion, wants definition, and, as 
Rey ae : 
every Ginga could become A fabs e 
€ 
oving body ; ex $ 
theory, and fevere Giences were difcuffed in aa and 
phrafes new to geometry. 
cience, however, derived an incalculable advantage from 
the invention of the method of fluxions, but the excellence 
of thisi invention, one of the foundation ftones of the im- 
menfe fabric of Newton’s fame, does not confift in the prin- 
ciple BY which quantity was conceived to be generated by 
we 
in the fimple excogitation of the principle of motion, New- 
ton had nee ede d by Roberval. 
According to the view that has been taken of the diffe- 
rential ocean. it is to be confidered as a branch of common 
fe. 
x being altogether 
ae”, r 
of fe x is fimply the 
ae a w + ds) expan onded, d 
arbitrary ; and in particular cafes, as Ce 
re &e. In 
. bes amore ae Me the calculus cannot be faid to demand any 
w hypothefis, but fimply a this a eae to be 
etal, viz. that ina feri i : : - pe 
y be taken of fuch a 
comprehended by f x, max"*dax, Aad a, 
erm of f (x aia x), orf (% + x) expanded, is not fimply 
that fecon » but is expreffed by it, under the circum- 
ftances of a poate sehen i snd of a particular peony ; 
and confequently, the mere analytical proceffes and o 
tions by which rules are founded become burthened id 
that theory 
Function, in Phyfology, the office in the animal econo- 
my performed by any part of the body. In this fenfe it is 
{ynonymous with the u/é of the part ; we {peak of the func- 
tion of the kidn ney, _teltis, &e. The term, however, is em- 
ployed, tenfively, to denote the great proceffes of the 
living oes the performance of which requires the co-ope- 
ration ny organs ; as thofe of digeftion, fenfation, &c. 
Thefe fubjeéts ell all be confidered. under their refpedctive 
articles in the Cyclopedia. 
the different functions, arranged in 
as to exhibit fae mutual mations; ad to 
neral claffiification of 
This table is take 
cheraud. We da, 
ctions are mu- 
fimultaneoufly. 
w uich we cannot aff n geftion, 
mo} 
“S$ 
fo) 
a 
oO 
a) 
2 
“8 
proceeds to the o 
ftraétion, when he begins to contemplate fome fing part of 
the vital phenomenon, he muft not look u 
{ulated or independent, but advert to its eaten with 
other parts of ea economy. A more detailed view of thefe 
matters will be exhibited in the article Lire. 
he older eee divide the functions into four claffes, 
r 
c e p 
and: pee: on, the continuance of 
which is neceflary to life ; ; the third, digettio n, chylification, 
abforption, peel fecretion, &e. by which the nourithment 
and ¢ 
uch an ae is very pec eg and 
open to ions. vital and animal fune- 
tions are fometimes claffed ee onde the former name. 
Vieq has prefixed an nes aa t of functions : 
his great w e raité e avec des plauc 
colorieés.”’ 
This is cbjetionable, ‘ince fe — nite 
bility, and offification, are there includ Now the 
a 
merely a mode of nutrition peculiar to a certain ftruCiure of 
the body. 
TABULAR: 
