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  XXIV. 
  — 
  Defence 
  of 
  the 
  Doctrine 
  of 
  Vital 
  Affinity. 
  By 
  William 
  Pulteney 
  

   Alison, 
  M.D., 
  &c. 
  &c, 
  Professor 
  of 
  the 
  Practice 
  of 
  Medicine 
  in 
  the 
  University 
  

   of 
  Edinburgh. 
  

  

  (Read 
  15th 
  March 
  1852.) 
  

  

  Having 
  expressed 
  a 
  decided 
  opinion 
  that 
  there 
  are, 
  in 
  all 
  living 
  bodies, 
  che- 
  

   mical 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  mechanical 
  phenomena, 
  which, 
  in 
  the 
  present 
  state 
  of 
  our 
  

   knowledge, 
  ought 
  to 
  be 
  designated 
  as 
  Vital, 
  and 
  referred 
  to 
  the 
  operation 
  of 
  laws, 
  

   distinct 
  from 
  those 
  that 
  regulate 
  the 
  chemical 
  changes 
  of 
  inanimate 
  matter, 
  and 
  

   observing 
  that 
  this 
  opinion 
  is 
  controverted, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  chemical 
  

   phenomena 
  of 
  life 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  maintained, 
  is 
  rejected 
  as 
  unphilosophical 
  and 
  

   delusive 
  by 
  two 
  authors 
  of 
  high 
  scientific 
  reputation 
  — 
  Baron 
  Humboldt 
  and 
  Dr 
  

   Daubeny, 
  — 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  judgment 
  of 
  other 
  authors 
  of 
  acknowledged 
  character 
  on 
  

   this 
  subject 
  is 
  not 
  clearly 
  expressed, 
  and 
  seems 
  to 
  me 
  to 
  involve 
  it 
  in 
  unneces- 
  

   sary 
  obscurity, 
  I 
  am 
  led 
  to 
  hope 
  that 
  some 
  farther 
  explanations 
  may 
  be 
  of 
  some 
  

   use 
  in 
  establishing 
  the 
  first 
  principles 
  of 
  a 
  Science 
  which, 
  as 
  it 
  appears 
  to 
  me, 
  

   has 
  suffered, 
  in 
  several 
  instances, 
  not 
  so 
  much 
  from 
  want 
  of 
  facts, 
  as 
  from 
  hypo- 
  

   thetical 
  and 
  erroneous 
  inferences, 
  drawn 
  from 
  facts 
  that 
  are 
  already 
  known. 
  

  

  When 
  I 
  first 
  undertook, 
  above 
  thirty 
  years 
  ago, 
  to 
  deliver 
  lectures 
  on 
  Phy- 
  

   siology, 
  I 
  ventured 
  to 
  express 
  an 
  opinion, 
  that 
  " 
  a 
  discovery 
  would 
  be 
  made, 
  

   connecting 
  the 
  ingesta 
  into 
  the 
  animal 
  body 
  with 
  the 
  nourishment 
  of 
  the 
  different 
  

   textures, 
  and 
  with 
  the 
  nature 
  of 
  the 
  different 
  excretions, 
  equally 
  important 
  as 
  

   illustrating 
  the 
  obscure 
  chemical 
  phenomena 
  of 
  the 
  living 
  body, 
  and 
  the 
  intention 
  

   of 
  the 
  different 
  secretions, 
  as 
  the 
  discovery 
  of 
  the 
  circulation 
  of 
  the 
  blood 
  was, 
  in 
  

   illustrating 
  the 
  movements 
  going 
  on 
  in 
  its 
  interior, 
  and 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  organs 
  con- 
  

   cerned 
  in 
  effecting 
  them." 
  It 
  did 
  not 
  occur 
  to 
  me, 
  nor 
  do 
  I 
  know 
  that 
  any 
  one 
  

   had 
  then 
  conjectured, 
  that 
  these 
  chemical 
  phenomena, 
  like 
  the 
  movements 
  of 
  the 
  

   animal 
  fluids, 
  partook 
  of 
  the 
  nature 
  and 
  formed 
  part 
  of 
  a 
  circulation, 
  but 
  of 
  one 
  

   of 
  such 
  extent 
  and 
  complexity, 
  that 
  the 
  atmosphere, 
  the 
  soil, 
  and 
  the 
  vegetable 
  

   kingdom, 
  furnish 
  the 
  other 
  great 
  links 
  in 
  the 
  circuit, 
  and 
  that 
  all 
  the 
  elements 
  

   of 
  the 
  ancients, 
  fire, 
  air, 
  earth, 
  and 
  water, 
  are 
  literally 
  and 
  essentially 
  concerned 
  

   as 
  agents 
  in 
  maintaining 
  it. 
  

  

  It 
  appears, 
  however, 
  from 
  the 
  following 
  passage 
  in 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  earlier 
  writings 
  

   of 
  Sir 
  Humphry 
  Davy, 
  that 
  he 
  was 
  aware 
  of, 
  and 
  had 
  duly 
  reflected 
  on, 
  the 
  most 
  

   vol. 
  xx. 
  part 
  hi. 
  5 
  m 
  

  

  