﻿398 
  

  

  PKOFESSOR 
  ALISON 
  S 
  DEFENCE 
  

  

  tion 
  of 
  phenomena 
  of 
  living 
  bodies, 
  unless 
  their 
  application 
  is 
  confirmed 
  by 
  experi- 
  

   menV 
  — 
  (Phys. 
  Prin., 
  p. 
  6.) 
  

  

  It 
  might 
  have 
  been 
  perfectly 
  fairly 
  argued 
  at 
  that 
  time, 
  that 
  physiologists 
  did 
  

   not 
  understand 
  all 
  the 
  conditions, 
  under 
  which 
  the 
  laws 
  of 
  mechanics 
  and 
  of 
  hy- 
  

   draulics 
  (admitted 
  to 
  have 
  a 
  certain 
  influence) 
  act 
  in 
  a 
  living 
  body, 
  and 
  that 
  until 
  

   it 
  was 
  ascertained 
  that 
  these 
  mould 
  not 
  suffice 
  for 
  the 
  explanation, 
  — 
  that 
  there 
  was 
  

   some 
  residual 
  phenomenon 
  of 
  life 
  not 
  capable 
  of 
  being 
  so 
  explained, 
  — 
  the 
  exposition 
  

   of 
  any 
  laws 
  of 
  motion 
  peculiar 
  to 
  living 
  bodies 
  was 
  premature. 
  But 
  Haller 
  did 
  not 
  

   think 
  it 
  incumbent 
  on 
  him 
  to 
  prove 
  this 
  negative 
  proposition, 
  before 
  announcing 
  

   the 
  laws 
  of 
  muscular 
  irritability 
  as 
  distinguished 
  from 
  any 
  merely 
  physical 
  cause 
  

   of 
  motion 
  ; 
  and 
  I 
  believe 
  we 
  shall 
  all 
  now 
  admit, 
  that 
  if 
  he 
  had 
  thought 
  this 
  

   incumbent 
  on 
  him, 
  the 
  greatest 
  impulse 
  which 
  the 
  science 
  of 
  physiology 
  received 
  

   during 
  the 
  last 
  century, 
  would 
  have 
  been 
  long, 
  and 
  perhaps 
  indefinitely, 
  post- 
  

   poned. 
  

  

  Fortified 
  by 
  these 
  authorities, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  by 
  some 
  formerly 
  quoted, 
  I 
  again 
  

   assert, 
  that 
  the 
  only 
  truly 
  scientific 
  view 
  to 
  be 
  taken 
  of 
  this 
  department 
  of 
  Phy- 
  

   siology 
  is, 
  that 
  its 
  object 
  is 
  to 
  ascertain, 
  by 
  the 
  method 
  of 
  induction, 
  to 
  use 
  again 
  

   the 
  expressions 
  of 
  Professor 
  Whewell, 
  " 
  when, 
  and 
  in 
  what 
  manner 
  and 
  degree, 
  

   chemical 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  mechanical 
  agencies 
  are 
  modified, 
  overruled, 
  or 
  counteracted 
  

   in 
  living 
  bodies, 
  by 
  agencies 
  which 
  must 
  be 
  hyper-chemical 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  hyper- 
  

   mechanical 
  ;" 
  and 
  I 
  farther 
  maintain, 
  that 
  the 
  term 
  Vital 
  Affinity 
  is 
  as 
  accurate 
  a 
  

   term 
  as 
  can 
  be 
  employed 
  as 
  a 
  general 
  expression 
  for 
  these 
  agencies 
  ; 
  that, 
  like 
  all 
  

   other 
  general 
  principles 
  in 
  nature, 
  we 
  may 
  expect 
  it 
  to 
  act 
  according 
  to 
  general 
  

   laws, 
  and 
  that 
  several 
  of 
  these 
  laws, 
  to 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  referred 
  in 
  this 
  and 
  former 
  

   papers, 
  are 
  already 
  ascertained, 
  at 
  least, 
  in 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  to 
  shew 
  that 
  the 
  subject 
  is 
  

   one 
  of 
  legitimate 
  inquiry. 
  

  

  I 
  am 
  aware 
  that 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  still 
  said 
  that 
  this 
  dispute 
  is 
  only 
  a 
  verbal 
  one, 
  

   and 
  can 
  have 
  no 
  practical 
  or 
  even 
  strictly 
  scientific 
  application. 
  But 
  in 
  answer 
  

   to 
  this 
  I 
  would 
  observe, 
  that 
  so 
  long 
  as 
  we 
  adhere 
  to 
  the 
  supposition, 
  that 
  there 
  

   is 
  nothing 
  truly 
  vital 
  or 
  peculiar 
  to 
  living 
  bodies 
  in 
  their 
  econonry 
  (as 
  regards 
  

   their 
  organic 
  functions), 
  except 
  motion, 
  and 
  that 
  motion 
  derived 
  from 
  contraction 
  

   of 
  solids 
  and 
  impulse, 
  the 
  notions 
  that 
  we 
  can 
  form 
  of 
  the 
  nature 
  of 
  these 
  functions 
  

   in 
  health, 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  deviations 
  from 
  that 
  state 
  in 
  disease, 
  must 
  necessarily 
  be 
  erro- 
  

   neous, 
  because 
  we 
  shall 
  always 
  be 
  looking 
  in 
  the 
  wrong 
  direction 
  for 
  the 
  cause 
  of 
  

   these 
  phenomena 
  ; 
  and 
  that 
  at 
  this 
  precise 
  point 
  the 
  most 
  plausible 
  medical 
  

   theories 
  of 
  the 
  last, 
  and 
  even 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  age, 
  have 
  gone 
  astray. 
  This, 
  I 
  think, 
  

   is 
  sufficiently 
  illustrated 
  by 
  the 
  example 
  already 
  given, 
  of 
  the 
  ingenuity 
  of 
  Dr 
  

   Murray 
  wasted 
  in 
  the 
  invention 
  and 
  defence 
  of 
  the 
  hypothesis 
  which 
  ascribed 
  

   the 
  secretions 
  of 
  animals 
  to 
  varying 
  impulse 
  on 
  their 
  fluids 
  from 
  contracting 
  

   solids 
  ; 
  and 
  I 
  shall 
  only 
  add 
  a 
  single 
  illustration 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  kind 
  drawn 
  from 
  

   the 
  science 
  of 
  Pathology, 
  and 
  from 
  the 
  most 
  fundamental 
  of 
  all 
  inquiries 
  in 
  it, 
  

  

  