LECTURE III.
Gentlemen,
Let us next take a view of the state of animal life in the different inhabitants of our globe, as varied by the circumstances of civilization, diet, situation, and climate.
I. In the Indians of the northern latitudes of America there is often a defect of the stimulus of aliment, and of the understanding and passions. Their vacant countenances, and their long and disgusting taciturnity, are the effects of the want of action in their brains from a deficiency of ideas; and their tranquillity under all the common circumstances of irritation, pleasure, or grief, are the result of an absence of passion; for they hold it to be disgraceful to show any outward signs of anger, joy, or even of domestic affection. This account of the Indian character, I know, is contrary to that which is given of it by Rousseau, and several other writers, who have attempted to prove that man may become perfect and happy without the aids of civilization and religion. This opinion is contradicted by the experience of all ages, and is rendered ridiculous by the facts which are well ascertained in the history of the customs and habits of our American savages. In a cold climate they are the most miserable beings upon the face of the earth. The greatest part of their time is spent in sleep, or under the alternate influence of hunger and gluttony. They moreover indulge in vices which are alike contrary to moral and physical happiness. It is in consequence of these habits that they discover so early the marks of old age, and that so few of them are long-lived. The absence and diminution of many of the stimuli of life in these people is supplied in part by the violent exertions with which they hunt and carry on war, and by the extravagant manner with which they afterwards celebrate their exploits, in their savage dances and songs.
II. In the inhabitants of the torrid regions of Africa there is a deficiency of labour; for the earth produces spontaneously nearly all the sustenance they require. Their understandings and passions are moreover in a torpid state. But the absence of bodily and mental stimuli in these people is amply supplied by the constant heat of the sun, by the profuse use of spices in their diet, and by the passion for musical sounds which so universally characterises the African nations.
III. In Greenland the body is exposed during a long winter to such a degree of cold as to reduce the pulse to 40 or 50 strokes in a minute. But the effects of this cold in lessening the quantity of life are obviated in part by the heat of close stove rooms, by warm clothing, and by the peculiar nature of the aliment of the Greenlanders, which consists chiefly of animal food, of dried fish, and of whale oil. They prefer the last of those articles in so rancid a state, that it imparts a fœtor to their perspiration, which, Mr. Crantz says, renders even their churches offensive to strangers. I need hardly add, that a diet possessed of such diffusible qualities cannot fail of being highly stimulating. It is remarkable that the food of all the northern nations of Europe is composed of stimulating animal or vegetable matters, and that the use of spiritous liquors is universal among them.
IV. Let us next turn our eyes to the miserable inhabitants of those eastern countries which compose the Turkish empire. Here we behold life in its most feeble state, not only from the absence of physical, but of other stimuli which operate upon the inhabitants of other parts of the world. Among the poor people of Turkey there is a general deficiency of aliment. Mr. Volney in his Travels tells us, “That the diet of the Bedouins seldom exceeds six ounces a day, and that it consists of six or seven dates soaked in butter-milk, and afterwards mixed with a little sweet milk, or curds.” There is likewise a general deficiency among them of stimulus from the operations of the mental faculties; for such is the despotism of the government in Turkey, that it weakens not only the understanding, but it annihilates all that immense source of stimuli which arises from the exercise of the domestic and public affections. A Turk lives wholly to himself. In point of time he occupies only the moment in which he exists; for his futurity, as to life and property, belongs altogether to his master. Fear is the reigning principle of his actions, and hope and joy seldom add a single pulsation to his heart. Tyranny even imposes a restraint upon the stimulus which arises from conversation, for “They speak (says Mr. Volney) with a slow feeble voice, as if the lungs wanted strength to propel air enough through the glottis to form distinct articulate sounds.” The same traveller adds, that “They are slow in all their motions, that their bodies are small, that they have small evacuations, and that their blood is so destitute of serosity, that nothing but the greatest heat can preserve its fluidity.” The deficiency of aliment, and the absence of mental stimuli in these people is supplied,
1. By the heat of their climate.
2. By their passion for musical sounds and fine clothes. And
3. By their general use of coffee, garlic[98], and opium.
The more debilitated the body is, the more forcibly these stimuli act upon it. Hence, according to Mr. Volney, the Bedouins, whose slender diet has been mentioned, enjoy good health; for this consists not in strength, but in an exact proportion being kept up between the excitability of the body, and the number and force of the stimuli which act upon it.
V. Many of the observations which have been made upon the inhabitants of Africa, and of the Turkish dominions, apply to the inhabitants of China and the East-Indies. They want, in many instances, the stimulus of animal food. Their minds are, moreover, in a state too languid to act with much force upon their bodies. The absence and deficiency of these stimuli are supplied by,
1. The heat of the climate in the southern parts of those countries.
2. By a vegetable diet abounding in nourishment, particularly rice and beans.
3. By the use of tea in China, and by a stimulating coffee made of the dried and toasted seeds of the datura stramonium, in the neighbourhood of the Indian coast. Some of these nations likewise chew stimulating substances, as too many of our citizens do tobacco.
Among the poor and depressed subjects of the governments of the middle and southern parts of Europe, the deficiency of the stimulus of wholesome food, of clothing, of fuel, and of liberty, is supplied, in some countries, by the invigorating influence of the christian religion upon animal life, and in others by the general use of tea, coffee, garlic, onions, opium, tobacco, malt liquors, and ardent spirits. The use of each of these stimuli seems to be regulated by the circumstances of climate. In cold countries, where the earth yields its increase with reluctance, and where vegetable aliment is scarce, the want of the stimulus of distension which that species of food is principally calculated to produce is sought for in that of ardent spirits. To the southward of 40°, a substitute for the distension from mild vegetable food is sought for in onions, garlic, and tobacco. But further, a uniform climate calls for more of these artificial stimuli than a climate that is exposed to the alternate action of heat and cold, winds and calms, and of wet and dry weather. Savages and ignorant people likewise require more of them than persons of civilized manners, and cultivated understandings. It would seem from these facts that man cannot exist without sensation of some kind, and that when it is not derived from natural means, it will always be sought for in such as are artificial.
In no part of the human species, is animal life in a more perfect state than in the inhabitants of Great Britain[99], and the United States of America. With all the natural stimuli that have been mentioned, they are constantly under the invigorating influence of liberty. There is an indissoluble union between moral, political, and physical happiness; and if it be true, that elective and representative governments are most favourable to individual, as well as national prosperity, it follows of course, that they are most favourable to animal life. But this opinion does not rest upon an induction derived from the relation, which truths upon all subjects bear to each other. Many facts prove animal life to exist in a larger quantity and for a longer time, in the enlightened and happy state of Connecticut, in which republican liberty has existed above one hundred and fifty years, than in any other country upon the surface of the globe.
It remains now to mention certain mental stimuli which act nearly alike in the production of animal life, upon the individuals of all the nations in the world. They are,
1. The desire of life. This principle, so deeply and universally implanted in human nature, acts very powerfully in supporting our existence. It has been observed to prolong life. Sickly travellers by sea and land, often live under circumstances of the greatest weakness, till they reach their native country, and then expire in the bosom of their friends. This desire of life often turns the scale in favour of a recovery in acute diseases. Its influence will appear, from the difference in the periods in which death was induced in two persons, who were actuated by opposite passions with respect to life. Atticus, we are told, died of voluntary abstinence from food in five days. In sir William Hamilton's account of the earthquake at Calabria, we read of a girl who lived eleven days without food before she expired. In the former case, life was shortened by an aversion from it; in the latter, it was protracted by the desire of it. The late Mr. Brissot, in his visit to this city, informed me, that the application of animal magnetism (in which he was a believer) had in no instance cured a disease in a West-India slave. Perhaps it was rendered inert by its not being accompanied by a strong desire of life; for this principle exists in a more feeble state in slaves than in freemen. It is possible likewise the wills and imaginations of these degraded people may have become so paralytic by slavery, as to be incapable of being excited by the impression of this fanciful remedy.
2. The love of money sets the whole animal machine in motion. Hearts which are insensible to the stimuli of religion, patriotism, love, and even of the domestic affections, are excited into action by this passion. The city of Philadelphia, between the 10th and 15th of August, 1791, will long be remembered by contemplative men, for having furnished the most extraordinary proofs of the stimulus of the love of money upon the human body. A new scene of speculation was produced at that time by the scrip of the bank of the United States. It excited febrile diseases in three persons who became my patients. In one of them, the acquisition of twelve thousand dollars in a few minutes by a lucky sale, brought on madness which terminated in death in a few days[100]. The whole city felt the impulse of this paroxysm of avarice. The slow and ordinary means of earning money were deserted, and men of every profession and trade were seen in all our streets hastening to the coffee-house, where the agitation of countenance, and the desultory manners, of all the persons who were interested in this species of gaming, exhibited a truer picture of a bedlam, than of a place appropriated to the transaction of mercantile business. But further, the love of money discovers its stimulus upon the body in a peculiar manner in the games of cards and dice. I have heard of a gentleman in Virginia who passed two whole days and nights in succession at a card table, and it is related in the life of a noted gamester in Ireland, that when he was so ill as to be unable to rise from his chair, he would suddenly revive when brought to the hazard table, by hearing the rattling of the dice.
3. Public amusements of all kinds, such as a horse race, a cockpit, a chase, the theatre, the circus, masquerades, public dinners, and tea parties, all exert an artificial stimulus upon the system, and thus supply the defect of the rational exercises of the mind.
4. The love of dress is not confined in its stimulating operation to persons in health. It acts perceptibly in some cases upon invalids. I have heard of a gentleman in South-Carolina, who always relieved himself of a fit of low spirits by changing his dress; and I believe there are few people who do not feel themselves enlivened, by putting on a new suit of clothes.
5. Novelty is an immense source of agreeable stimuli. Companions, studies, pleasures, modes of business, prospects, and situations, with respect to town and country, or to different countries, that are new, all exert an invigorating influence upon health and life.
6. The love of fame acts in various ways; but its stimulus is most sensible and durable in military life. It counteracts in many instances the debilitating effects of hunger, cold, and labour. It has sometimes done more, by removing the weakness which is connected with many diseases. In several instances it has assisted the hardships of a camp life, in curing pulmonary consumption.
7. The love of country is a deep seated principle of action in the human breast. Its stimulus is sometimes so excessive, as to induce disease in persons who recently migrate, and settle in foreign countries. It appears in various forms; but exists most frequently in the solicitude, labours, attachments, and hatred of party spirit. All these act forcibly in supporting animal life. It is because newspapers are supposed to contain the measure of the happiness or misery of our country, that they are so interesting to all classes of people. Those vehicles of intelligence, and of public pleasure or pain, are frequently desired with the impatience of a meal, and they often produce the same stimulating effects upon the body[101].
8. The different religions of the world, by the activity they excite in the mind, have a sensible influence upon human life. Atheism is the worst of sedatives to the understanding and passions. It is the abstraction of thought from the most sublime, and of love from the most perfect of all possible objects. Man is as naturally a religious, as he is a social and domestic animal; and the same violence is done to his mental faculties, by robbing him of a belief in a God, that is done by dooming him to live in a cell, deprived of the objects and pleasures of social and domestic life. The necessary and immutable connection between the texture of the human mind, and the worship of an object of some kind, has lately been demonstrated by the atheists of Europe, who, after rejecting the true God, have instituted the worship of nature, of fortune, and of human reason; and, in some instances, with ceremonies of the most expensive and splendid kind. Religions are friendly to animal life, in proportion as they elevate the understanding, and act upon the passions of hope and love. It will readily occur to you, that christianity, when believed and obeyed, according to its original consistency with itself, and with the divine attributes, is more calculated to produce those effects than any other religion in the world. Such is the salutary operation of its doctrines and precepts upon health and life, that if its divine authority rested upon no other argument, this alone would be sufficient to recommend it to our belief. How long mankind may continue to prefer substituted pursuits and pleasures to this invigorating stimulus, is uncertain; but the time, we are assured, will come, when the understanding shall be elevated from its present inferior objects, and the luxated passions be reduced to their original order. This change in the mind of man, I believe, will be effected only by the influence of the christian religion, after all the efforts of human reason to produce it, by means of civilization, philosophy, liberty, and government, have been exhausted to no purpose.
Thus far, gentlemen, we have considered animal life as it respects the human species; but the principles I am endeavouring to establish require that we should take a view of it in animals of every species, in all of which we shall find it depends upon the same causes as in the human body.
And here I shall begin by remarking, that if we should discover the stimuli which support life in certain animals to be fewer in number, or weaker in force than those which support it in our species, we must resolve it into that attribute of the Deity which seems to have delighted in variety in all his works.
The following observations apply more or less to all the animals upon our globe.
1. They all possess either hearts, lungs, brains, nerves, or muscular fibres. It is as yet a controversy among naturalists whether animal life can exist without a brain; but no one has denied muscular fibres, and of course contractility, or excitability, to belong to animal life in all its shapes.
2. They all require more or less air for their existence. Even the snail inhales it for seven months under ground, through a pellicle which it weaves out of slime, as a covering for its body. If this pellicle at any time become too thick to admit the air, the snail opens a passage in it for that purpose. Now air we know acts powerfully in supporting animal life.
3. Many of them possess heat equal to that of the human body. Birds possess several degrees beyond it. Now heat, it was said formerly, acts with great force in the production of animal life.
4. They all feed upon substances more or less stimulating to their bodies. Even water itself, chemistry has taught us, affords an aliment, not only stimulating, but nourishing to many animals.
5. Many of them possess senses, more acute and excitable, than the same organs in the human species. These expose surfaces for the action of external impressions, that supply the absence or deficiency of mental faculties.
6. Such of them as are devoid of sensibility, possess an uncommon portion of contractility, or simple excitability. This is most evident in the polypus. When cut to pieces, it appears to feel little or no pain.
7. They all possess loco-motive powers in a greater or less degree, and of course are acted upon by the stimulus of muscular motion.
8. Most of them appear to feel a stimulus, from the gratification of their appetites for food, and for venereal pleasures, far more powerful than that which is felt by our species from the same causes. I shall hereafter mention some facts from Spalanzani upon the subject of generation, that will prove the stimulus, from venery, to be strongest in those animals, in which other stimuli act with the least force. Thus the male frog during its long connection with its female, suffers its limbs to be amputated, without discovering the least mark of pain, and without relaxing its hold of the object of its embraces.
9. In many animals we behold evident marks of understanding and passion. The elephant, the fox, and the ant exhibit strong proofs of thought; and where is the school boy that cannot bear testimony to the anger of the bee and the wasp?
10. But what shall we say of those animals, which pass long winters in a state in which there is an apparent absence of the stimuli of heat, exercise, and the motion of the blood. Life in these animals is probably supported,
1. By such an accumulation of excitability, as to yield to impressions, which to us are imperceptible.
2. By the stimulus of aliment in a state of digestion in the stomach, or by the stimulus of aliment restrained from digestion by means of cold; for Mr. John Hunter has proved by an experiment on a frog, that cold below a certain degree, checks that animal process.
3. By the constant action of air upon their bodies.
It is possible life may exist in these animals, during their hybernation, in the total absence of impression and motion of every kind. This may be the case where the torpor from cold has been suddenly brought upon their bodies. Excitability here is in an accumulated, but quiescent state.
11. It remains only under this head to inquire, in what manner is life supported in those animals which live in a cold element, and whose blood is sometimes but a little above the freezing point? It will be a sufficient answer to this question to remark, that heat and cold are relative terms, and that different animals, according to their organization, require very different degrees of heat for their existence. Thirty-two degrees of it are probably as stimulating to some of these cold blooded animals (as they are called), as 70° or 80° are to the human body.
It might afford additional support to the doctrine of animal life, which I have delivered, to point out the manner in which life and growth are produced in vegetables of all kinds. But this subject belongs to the professor of botany and natural history[102], who is amply qualified to do it justice. I shall only remark, that vegetable life is as much the offspring of stimuli as animal, and that skill in agriculture consists chiefly in the proper application of them. The seed of a plant, like an animal body, has no principle of life within itself. If preserved for many years in a drawer, or in earth below the stimulating influence of heat, air, and water, it discovers no sign of vegetation. It grows, like an animal, only in consequence of stimuli acting upon its capacity of life.
From a review of what has been said of animal life in all its numerous forms and modifications, we see that it as much an effect of impressions upon a peculiar species of matter, as sound is of the stroke of a hammer upon a bell, or music of the motion of the bow upon the strings of a violin. I exclude therefore the intelligent principle of Whytt, the medical mind of Stahl, the healing powers of Cullen, and the vital principal of John Hunter, as much from the body, as I do an intelligent principle from air, fire, and water.
It is no uncommon thing for the simplicity of causes to be lost in the magnitude of their effects. By contemplating the wonderful functions of life we have strangely overlooked the numerous and obscure circumstances which produce it. Thus the humble but true origin of power in the people is often forgotten in the splendour and pride of governments. It is not necessary to be acquainted with the precise nature of that form of matter, which is capable of producing life from impressions made upon it. It is sufficient for our purpose to know the fact. It is immaterial, moreover, whether this matter derives its power of being acted upon wholly from the brain, or whether it be in part inherent in animal fibres. The inferences are the same in favour of life being the effect of stimuli, and of its being as truly mechanical as the movements of a clock from the pressure of its weights, or the passage of a ship in the water from the impulse of winds and tide.
The infinity of effects from similar causes, has often been taken notice of in the works of the Creator. It would seem as if they had all been made after one pattern. The late discovery of the cause of combustion has thrown great light upon our subject. Wood and coal are no longer believed to contain a principle of fire. The heat and flame they emit are derived from an agent altogether external to them. They are produced by a matter which is absorbed from the air, by means of its decomposition. This matter acts upon the predisposition of the fuel to receive it, in the same way that stimuli act upon the human body. The two agents differ only in their effects. The former produces the destruction of the bodies upon which it acts, while the latter excite the more gentle and durable motions of life. Common language in expressing these effects is correct, as far as it relates to their cause. We speak of a coal of fire being alive, and of the flame of life.
The causes of life which I have delivered will receive considerable support by contrasting them with the causes of death. This catastrophe of the body consists in such a change induced on it by disease or old age, as to prevent its exhibiting the phenomena of life. It is brought on,
1. By the abstraction of all the stimuli which support life. Death from this cause is produced by the same mechanical means that the emission of sound from a violin is prevented by the abstraction of the bow from its strings.
2. By the excessive force of stimuli of all kinds. No more occurs here than happens from too much pressure upon the strings of a violin preventing its emitting musical tones.
3. By too much relaxation, or too weak a texture of the matter which composes the human body. No more occurs here than is observed in the extinction of sound by the total relaxation, or slender combination of the strings of a violin.
4. By an error in the place of certain fluid or solid parts of the body. No more occurs here than would happen from fixing the strings of a violin upon its body, instead of elevating them upon its bridge.
5. By the action of poisonous exhalations, or of certain fluids vitiated in the body, upon parts which emit most forcibly the motions of life. No more happens here than occurs from enveloping the strings of a violin in a piece of wax.
6. By the solution of continuity by means of wounds in solid parts of the body. No more occurs in death from this cause than takes place when the emission of sound from a violin is prevented by a rupture of its strings.
7. Death is produced by a preternatural rigidity, and in some instances by an ossification of the solid parts of the body in old age, in consequence of which they are incapable of receiving and emitting the motions of life. No more occurs here, than would happen if a stick or pipe-stem were placed in the room of catgut, upon the bridges of the violin. But death may take place in old age without a change in the texture of animal matter, from the stimuli of life losing their effect by repetition, just as opium, from the same cause, ceases to produce its usual effects upon the body.
Should it be asked, what is that peculiar organization of matter, which enables it to emit life, when acted upon by stimuli, I answer, I do not know. The great Creator has kindly established a witness of his unsearchable wisdom in every part of his works, in order to prevent our forgetting him, in the successful exercises of our reason. Mohammed once said, “that he should believe himself to be a God, if he could bring down rain from the clouds, or give life to an animal.” It belongs exclusively to the true God to endow matter with those singular properties, which enable it, under certain circumstances, to exhibit the appearances of life.
I cannot conclude this subject, without taking notice of its extensive application to medicine, metaphysics, theology, and morals.
The doctrine of animal life which has been taught, exhibits in the first place, a new view of the nervous system, by discovering its origin in the extremities of the nerves, on which impressions are made, and its termination in the brain. This idea is extended in an ingenious manner by Mr. Valli, in his treatise upon animal electricity.
2. It discovers to us the true means of promoting health and longevity, by proportioning the number and force of stimuli to the age, climate, situation, habits, and temperament of the human body.
3. It leads us to a knowledge of the causes of all diseases. These consist in excessive or preternatural excitement in the whole, or a part of the human body, accompanied generally with irregular motions, and induced by natural or artificial stimuli. The latter have been called, very properly, by Mr. Hunter, irritants. The occasional absence of motion in acute diseases is the effect only of the excess of impetus in their remote causes.
4. It discovers to us that the cure of all diseases depends simply upon the abstraction of stimuli from the whole, or from a part of the body, when the motions excited by them are in excess; and in the increase of their number and force, when motions are of a moderate nature. For the former purpose, we employ a class of medicines known by the name of sedatives. For the latter, we make use of stimulants. Under these two extensive heads, are included all the numerous articles of the materia medica.
5. It enables us to reject the doctrine of innate ideas, and to ascribe all our knowledge of sensible objects to impressions acting upon an innate capacity to receive ideas. Were it possible for a child to grow up to manhood without the use of any of its senses, it would not possess a single idea of a material object; and as all human knowledge is compounded of simple ideas, this person would be as destitute of knowledge of every kind, as the grossest portion of vegetable or fossil matter.
6. The account which has been given of animal life, furnishes a striking illustration of the origin of human actions, by the impression of motives upon the will. As well might we admit an inherent principle of life in animal matter, as a self-determining power in this faculty of the mind. Motives are necessary, not only to constitute its freedom, but its essence; for, without them, there could be no more a will, than there could be vision without light, or hearing without sound. It is true, they are often so obscure as not to be perceived, and they sometimes become insensible from habit; but the same things have been remarked in the operation of stimuli, and yet we do not upon this account deny their agency in producing animal life. In thus deciding in favour of the necessity of motives, to produce actions, I cannot help bearing a testimony against the gloomy misapplication of this doctrine by some modern writers. When properly understood, it is calculated to produce the most comfortable views of the divine government, and the most beneficial effects upon morals and human happiness.
7. There are errors of an impious nature, which sometimes obtain a currency, from being disguised by innocent names. The doctrine of animal life that has been delivered is directly opposed to an error of this kind, which has had the most baneful influence upon morals and religion. To suppose a principle to reside necessarily and constantly in the human body, which acted independently of external circumstances, is to ascribe to it an attribute, which I shall not connect, even in language, with the creature man. Self-existence belongs only to God.
The best criterion of the truth of a philosophical opinion, is its tendency to produce exalted ideas of the Divine Being, and humble views of ourselves. The doctrine of animal life which has been delivered is calculated to produce these effects in an eminent degree, for
8. It does homage to the Supreme Being, as the governor of the universe, and establishes the certainty of his universal and particular providence. Admit a principle of life in the human body, and we open a door for the restoration of the old Epicurean or atheistical philosophy, which supposed the world to be governed by a principle called nature, and which was believed to be inherent in every kind of matter. The doctrine I have taught, cuts the sinews of this error; for by rendering the continuance of animal life, no less than its commencement, the effect of the constant operation of divine power and goodness, it leads us to believe that the whole creation is supported in the same manner.
9. The view that has been given of the dependent state of man for the blessing of life, leads us to contemplate, with very opposite and inexpressible feelings, the sublime idea which is given of the Deity in the scriptures, as possessing life “within himself.” This divine prerogative has never been imparted but to one being, and that is the Son of God. This appears from the following declaration. “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life within himself.”[103] To this plenitude of independent life, we are to ascribe his being called the “life of the world,” “the prince of life,” and “life” itself, in the New Testament. These divine epithets which are very properly founded upon the manner of our Saviour's existence, exalt him infinitely above simple humanity, and establish his divine nature upon the basis of reason, as well as revelation.
10. We have heard that some of the stimuli which produce animal life, are derived from the moral and physical evils of our world. From beholding these instruments of death thus converted by divine skill into the means of life, we are led to believe goodness to be the supreme attribute of the Deity, and that it will appear finally to predominate in all his works.
11. The doctrine which has been delivered, is calculated to humble the pride of man by teaching him his constant dependence upon his Maker for his existence, and that he has no pre-eminence in his tenure of it, over the meanest insect that flutters in the air, or the humblest plant that grows upon the earth. What an inspired writer says of the innumerable animals which inhabit the ocean, may with equal propriety be said of the whole human race. “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, and they are created. Thou takest away their breath—they die, and return to their dust.”
12. Melancholy indeed would have been the issue of all our inquiries, did we take a final leave of the human body in its state of decomposition in the grave. Revelation furnishes us with an elevating, and comfortable assurance that this will not be the case. The precise manner of its re-organization, and the new means of its future existence, are unknown to us. It is sufficient to believe, the event will take place, and that after it, the soul and body of man will be exalted in one respect, to an equality with their Creator. They will be immortal.
Here, gentlemen, we close the history of animal life. I feel as if I had waded across a rapid and dangerous stream. Whether I have gained the opposite shore with my head clean, or covered with mud and weeds, I leave wholly to your determination.
Footnotes:
[89] Lect. xi. p. 198.
[90] “Organization, sensation, spontaneous motion, and life, exist only at the surface of the earth, and in places exposed to light. We might affirm the flame of Prometheus's torch was the expression of a philosophical truth that did not escape the ancients. Without light, nature was lifeless, inanimate, and dead. A benevolent God, by producing life, has spread organization, sensation, and thought over the surface of the earth.”—Lavoisier.
[91] It is probable, the first impulse of life was imparted to the body of Adam by the decomposition of air in his lungs. I infer this from the account given by Moses of his creation, in Genesis, chap. ii. v. 7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” in consequence of which, the verse adds, he became “a living soul.” This explanation of the origin of life in the father of the human race, appears to accord more with reason, as well as the order of the words which describe it, than the common opinion of his having been animated by the infusion of a living soul into his body.
[92] A fever was excited in Cinna the poet, in consequence of his dreaming that he saw Cæsar, the night after he was assassinated, and was invited to accompany him to a dreary place, to which he pointed, in order to sup with him. Convulsions and other diseases, I believe, are often excited in the night, by terrifying or distressing dreams.
Plutarch's Life of M. Brutus.
[93] “Novum fœtum a seminis masculi stimulo vitam concepisse.”—Elementa Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 177.
[94] Niebuhr, in his Travels, says the children in Arabia are taught to keep themselves constantly in motion by a kind of vibratory exercise of their bodies. This motion counteracts the diminution of life produced by the heat of the climate of Arabia.
[95] The stimulus of a disease sometimes supplies the place of food in prolonging life. Mr. C. S——, a gentleman well known in Virginia, who was afflicted with a palsy, which had resisted the skill of several physicians, determined to destroy himself, by abstaining from food and drinks. He lived sixty days without eating any thing, and the greatest part of that time without tasting even a drop of water. His disease probably protracted his life thus long beyond the usual time in which death is induced by fasting. See a particular account of this case, in the first number of the second volume of Dr. Coxe's Medical Museum.
[96] Exodus xxxiii, 11. xxxiv, 28.
[98] Niebuhr's Travels.
[99] Haller's Elements Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 2. p. 107.
[100] Dr. Mead relates, upon the authority of Dr. Hales, that more of the successful speculators in the South-Sea scheme of 1720 became insane, than of those who had been ruined by it.
[101] They have been very happily called by Mr. Green, in his poem entitled Spleen, “the manna of the day.”
[102] Dr. Barton.
[103] John v. verse 26.
END OF VOL. II.
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