DR. PROUT ON CHEMISTRY. 443 
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finding it tumble about his ears; and, perhaps, his own reputa¬ 
tion buried in the ruins. 
Before he can hope to derive much real benefit from chemistry, 
the physiologist must turn chemist himself. In conjunction with 
the phenomena presented by living organized bodies, with which 
he ought to be thoroughly acquainted, he must carefully study 
their common chemical properties, their ultimate composition, 
the laws of their formation and change, and a multitude of other 
matters which the mere chemist is apt to overlook, or knows not 
how to appreciate even if he observes them. With information 
thus acquired, and an ordinarily sound judgment, he will soon 
discover, on the one hand, what he can not do, and on the other, 
what is really within his power. He will soon discover, for ex¬ 
ample, that nature will not permit him to officiate as her journey¬ 
man, even in the most trifling degree; or, in other words, that he 
is as little able to remedy or supply, in a direct manner, what is 
amiss or wanting in organic action, as he is to remedy or supply 
an injured nerve or muscle; and that the only way in which, for 
the most part, he can hope to influence her operations, is through 
the indirect agency of those circumstances which naturally possess 
the power of influencing them, and the management and control 
of which are, to a certain extent, within his power. Another 
point which he will do well to shun is, idle speculation on the 
nature of the living or vital principle of organized bodies. The 
true and legitimate object of inquiry for the physiologist ought to 
be, not what this principle is, but what it does; j ust as the laws 
and effects of gravitation are legitimate objects of inquiry, though 
we know nothing, and probably never shall know any thing, of 
the principle of gravitation itself. Let us, therefore, in confor¬ 
mity with this view, inquire briefly into the phenomena presented 
by organized beings. 
1. In the first place, with respect to the material elements 
entering into the composition of organized beings, we may observe, 
that these exist in the world in great abundance in the inorgan- 
ized state, in which state they pbssess no peculiarities, but are 
subject to all the agencies and laws which influence other matters. 
Organized bodies also are no less capable of being influenced by 
the same agencies and laws ; a fact which seems to shew, that 
the organic principle, in adopting material elements, either cannot, 
or at least does not, adopt them in the abstract, but adopts the 
whole together—the material invested with all its natural powers. 
But as this is a most important point, which I am anxious to es¬ 
tablish, in opposition to a notion I believe very prevalent among 
physiologists, that the organic principle has the power of de¬ 
taching matter from its ordinary and natural properties, and in- 
