The Living Power &Principle as described by Richard Saumarez
It is, therefore, I contend, impossible to refer the action of the gastric juice to any chemical power which it is pretended to possess; but, that it is far more reasonable to conclude that its activity is, altogether, derived from the energy of the living power which is superadded to it, whose edge is sharper than that of the keenest knife, whose solvent property is more active than that of the most eroding caustic. Such, indeed, is the activity of this living juice, that, although it remains, during life, in harmony with the organ by which it has been produced, its own power, notwithstanding, extends and continues after the death of the organ itself has taken place; hence it is, that the stomach has then been found corroded and destroyed, more especially in its pyloric extremity, and after making its way on surrounding parts, these have been found torn asunder and finally dissolved.
It is by the energy of this same living power, resident in the seed of plants, and in the fecundated ova of animals, that the acorn becomes evolved into an oak,the infant foliage expanded into leaves,and the whole process of nutrition and of growth carried on. It is this power which constitutes the architect and the fabricator, by which the whole machine is erected; it is the base on which the whole stands, it forms the bond of its elementary parts,the cement that unites them into one whole; it is the cause primary and efficient, whence the individuality of every living system arises, in which the form and the sex it assumes, essentially reside; by which, the human species differs from the brute, the brute from the vegetable, the vegetable itself from matter inanimate and common; this power it is, which I call life. The matter, which this power has assimilated and organised, it is, which I call living matter. It is this principle, which has been named by ARISTOTLE, eidoz,by HARRIS, formby STAHL, vis medicatrix natur*by HALLER, vis vit*by BLUMENBACH, nisus formativusby J. BROWN, excitability (if the term has in it any meaning),and by HUNTER, principle of life. This last term appears to me so appropriate and distinct, that I shall consequently retain it. The principle of life may be defined to be "that power, by whose energy different species of matter are assimilated to one kind, a living system organised and formed; and the various parts of which it is composed, are protected and preserved from decomposition and decay."
...it is the power of life which constitutes the first cause, and the first mover of every living system, in particular, by which it is modelled and formed.Although this living power is hidden from the sight of the eye, we may, perhaps, gain a glimpse of its nature by abstraction, or by the analogy which subsists between its fabricating power, and the operation of the mind, when it employs the organs of the body as its instruments.
...we behold, in every living system, the various parts formed by a power from within,from one united and indivisible whole.It is owing to the unity and totality of this principle, or power, that the various parts of the same system are connected together, by one and the same bond, why one part of the same system is not separated, or distinct, from the other, but that it is all in all, one whole.
It is the specific and individual nature of this living principle, or formative power, which stamps the character, and the feature of every living system. In its essence, it must be definite, because the body which it has formed, and in which it is contained, is limited in the extent of its growth, and is prevented from acquiring indefinite magnitude; although the causes for its perpetual increase continue to be applied. It must possess a formative power, because every living system we behold, from the most gigantic and complicated, to the most insignificant and simple, is marked by a peculiarity in the order and arrangement of its parts.
In its energy, it must be active, not only because it imparts activity and form to the passivity and imbecility of matter but becomes the primary cause of the various operations which this living matter performs.In that energy, it must be temporal, because every living system is transient and perishable, and in a constant and unceasing state of progression, perfection and decay.
Admitting these undeniable truths, the conclusion presses itself upon the mind with force irresistible, that these attributes must, of necessity, belong to a principle immaterial, and incorporeal, by whose activity, matter formless becomes organised;by whose vivacity it becomes endowed with the power of action, and of motion; exerting the same influence, and governing by the same laws, every particle of this matter which it has assimilated; and constituting the power whence the organisation originatesthe fountain, whence health and disease are made to flow.
The existence of vitality without organisation, would more evidently appear, if we were to examine the state of the living principle in the seeds of plants and ova of animals. There are not, in them, any traces whatever to be found of the future animal, or vegetable; there is no fútus in miniature, either of the one or of the other...
...with respect to the living principle, and the different organs which it has produced; it not only demands a certain state and temperature of the medium in which it is placed, but particular kinds of food, as well as particular conditions of it, before that dormant power can become power active, and the phenomena be produced of organic action. It is in the development of this power from capacity to energy, from predisposition to action, by which means are employed with a view to ends, and the final cause attained for which animated beings were intended.In proportion as the state of predisposition departs, the state of energy accedes; the difference which subsists between both consists in this; in the one case, the organs, have the power to act without having proper substances on which to operate; in the other, the power which the organs possess, is immediately called forth by the application of the particular substances which they require, and on which their powers can be properly exerted. The power, therefore, is resident within; the means by which the power is called forth into energy comes from without; the result of which is, the production of organic action; the action produced, is not the cause of life, as has been falsely and erroneously supposed, but merely an effect of it. Life, as we have seen before, may, and does actually subsist without organic action, although organic action cannot subsist without the existence of life: life had a prior subsistence to the organisation, and organisation itself to the action produced: life is the primary and efficient cause, of which organisation is the secondary and instrumental cause, and organic action itself is the final cause. Physical causes, therefore, may be divided into two kinds; first, into primary, or efficient causes, as the great first cause, and the principles of intellect and of life, which impresses motion on matter, the passive recipient of a foreign impulse. Secondly, into instrumental, or secondary causes, which consist in the various organs of the body, as the instruments which it employs, in order to assist; as a telescope to the eye, a hammer to the hand, &c.
...the energy of the formative power ... converts matter, the same in kind, into instruments totally different,this power does not reside in the matter which is employed,it proceeds, in them, from the efficacy of the artist, by which the matter was modelled, and from the power of the living principle by which it was organised.
