5

Animal Life

a capacity for life exists, but the capacity for it, is life.
Most of the actions of life are the effects of stimulants, as
sound on the ear, light on the eye, et cet. Can any
vital action take place without the agency of stimulants?
The actions of life are forced, but the powers of life are
not forced. We might as well say that the air makes
flame when we burn carbon &c. Tis impossible to
produce life in dead matter, by the action of stimuli.
If you take two fishes, one frozen dead, the other alive,
by applying heat to both, the former will suffer
putrefaction, & the latter will not. Next we may
inquire whether or not organization influences life?
Among the lower classes of animals the organization
is very simple. In the Hydatid & polypus, we have
examples. The Hydatid is extremely simple in its
organization, it probably consists of nothing but a
stomach and absorbants, and digestion constitutes its
only function. The doctrine that the blood possesses life
has been defended by Mr. J. Hunter. When we consider