longer, any more than is that an eye which is represented in sculpture or painting. All that has here been assumed of a part may be made applicable to the whole living body; for, as there is an analogy between part and part, so is there between the whole sensibility and the whole sentient body, in the ratio of its sensibility ; but this must be understood of a body which yet retains its Vital Principle, and is, in potentiality, alive. The seed and the fruit are the representatives of such a body in potentiality ; and as cutting is the reality of an axe, vision that of an eye, so watching is the reality of Vital Principle ; which is to the body what vision is to an eye, and its own property to any instrument ; but this is to be understood of a body in potentiality. Thus, as an eye is a pupil and vision, so an animal is a body and Vital Principle.
It is then obvious that neither Vital Principle nor any of its parts, even granting that it may be divisible, can be separate from the body; for of some of its parts it is the reality; and yet there is nothing to preclude the possibility of some others being separate, as there are some which do not contribute to the reality of any body. It is doubtful, however, whether the Vital Principle is the reality of a body in the sense that a mariner is of his vessel.
Thus far, then, have we proceeded in our attempt to define and delineate Vital Principle.
