i88i.] 
Life and its Basis. 
79 
least of heat (another form of aether-motion) to vital func- 
tions, and indeed to the continuance of life itself, seems to 
prove the presence of some form of aether in the nervous 
system, as well as in every other part of the living body. In 
applying the term aethereal to the nerve-fluid I do not mean 
that it is absolutely identical with the free ether of space. 
But may it not well be, that the aether which undoubtedly 
exists all around us, may be modified in its qualities by 
being taken into combination with that wonderful organic 
product, the nervous tissue ? May it not be one of the func- 
tions of the brain and of other ganglionic centres to draw 
from the air, through the aeration of the blood, constant 
supplies of this vital element ? 
The blood is no doubt the life of the corporeal system, 
and that in more senses than one. And it is so in a speci- 
ally important sense, if one of its chief functions is to distil , 
as it were, from the air we breathe, and store up in the brain, 
that empyreal form of matter, whose activities are requisite 
to enable the nerves both of sensation and volition to fulfil 
their varied functions. And in connection with this 
subject, is it not possible, nay probable, that many of the per- 
plexing but indisputable faCts of Mesmerism may find a 
solution, in the aCtion of a strong will upon the nerve-fluid, 
and by the medium of the aether combined with the air, 
aCting upon the nervous and muscular system of the person 
subjected to it ? 
Human 4 life’ then in the higher sense, is the continued 
union of soul and body by its aethereal link, and death is the 
cessation of that union. So far the man and the brute are 
alike, and perhaps the correlation may be extended one step 
further, to include the phenomena of dormant life ; although 
in some obscure cases it may be wholly impossible to decide 
whether vitality has finally ceased, until disintegration of the 
organism has taken place ; but here the similarity ends. In 
the case of all animals except man, the cessation of the life 
is the end of the existence of their 4 anima.’ The beasts 
perish — cease to exist. The purposes of their creation have 
been fulfilled, and they are no more. 
Not so, however, in respeCt to man. To him physi- 
cal death is that of the body only. As regards his 4 anima ’ 
death is its separation from the gross corporeity which 
had been in a state of ceaseless flux from the first, and its 
entrance upon a fresh stage of existence. Into this new 
condition, it may, and I believe will, enter with the full 
consciousness of its own existence ; and associated with that 
aethereal substance which in this world constituted the mys- 
