and the Vital Principle heterogeneous, it is clear that some one of its parts will, and some other will not be, in the air; and thus either the Vital Principle must be homogeneous, or else it cannot be present in every part of the universe. It is manifest, then, from what has been adduced, that the faculty of recognising does not belong to Vital Principle by virtue of its being derived from the elements; as also that it cannot with accuracy or truth be said to be self-motive.
Since the faculties of knowing, feeling and thinking, together with desiring, willing and the appetites generally, as also locomotion, growth, maturity and decay, are properties of the Vital Principle, let us inquire whether or not each of those properties is imparted to us by the Vital Principle as a whole—that is, does each of those faculties emanate from the Vital Principle as a whole? do we think, feel, act and suffer by it as a whole, or are different offices assigned to different parts? Is life in one, or more than one, or in all the parts, or is there some other cause for life than the Vital Principle?
Some writers maintain that Vital Principle is divisible, and that by one part it thinks, and by another feels desire; but what then, if it be naturally divisible, holds its parts together? Not the body certainly, we answer; for the Vital Principle, on the contrary, appears to hold it together, as from the moment of its departure the body expires and decays.
