An examination of a review, contained in the British and Foreign Medical Review, of the Medical and physiol. commentaries / by the author, Martyn Paine.
- Paine, Martyn, 1794-1877.
- Date:
- 1841
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An examination of a review, contained in the British and Foreign Medical Review, of the Medical and physiol. commentaries / by the author, Martyn Paine. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![Now the whole inorganic kingdom and the chemist are con- cerned about the same laws in effecting the combinations of ele- ments. By what laws, then, are those combinations formed which the chemist and inorganic kingdom cannot effect ? Certainly not the chemical, and therefore the reviewer contradicts himself in saying that the elements of all these {organic) products are held together by no other than chemical affinities, since they must be held together, (at least under ordinary circumstances,) by the affinities through which they were imited. Where then, was the use of swelling the great book by intro- ducing Dr. Fletcher's, and Dr. Prichard's, views of vitalism, of whose partial exclusion the reviewer complains; especially since the doctrine propounded by Dr. Carpenter respecting the vital proper- ties is essentially the same as theirs, and the other able writers on the same side, — whilst Dr. Carpenter gave us, also, the latest revision of the doctrine ? Observe, also, the subterfuge in the first of the foregoing extracts, by which the reviewer would have us understand that he means that organization, or a maniiestation of vital properties, consists in *'an organized tissue. But, let us settle this construction against him by his own words. Thus : — In regard to the main question, we may briefly state our opinion; — that the •vital properties of the blood, —for with such we have formerly shown it to be en- do wed,—are, like its physical properties, capable of alteration. (Review, p. 393.) It is almost impossible to consider it, without admitting that tlio liquor sanoijinis is as com- PLITELY possessed OF VITALITY AS ANY SOLID TISSUE OF THE BODY. (CaRP. Frincip. p. 287.) Let us now show farther that Dr. Carpenter agrees fully with the reviewer in the conflicting doctrines announced in the forego- ing consecutive sentences marked 1 and 2, — the coincidence reach- ing even to the words. Thus : — 1. Reasons have been already given for the belief, that the affinities which hold together the olementa of organized tissues, arc the same as those which prevail in the inorganic world. Every fresh discovery tends to show that the powers immediately concerned, are, like the elements on vifhich they act, the same is all cases. (Carp. Prilicip. p. 146 ) That there should be no doubt about this chemical tenet, Dr. Carpenter has it twice over within six pages ; and we shall repeat it on account of another explicit declaration to the same effect which accompanies it. Thus : — Reason has been already given for the belief that the affinities which hold together the ele- mentary particles of organized sTRitcturiiS, are not ditlcrent from those concerned in the inorganic ■world ; and it has been shown that the tendency to dkcumposition after death bears a very close relation with the activity of the changes which take place in the part durins life. 1! ! (Carp. Prmcip. p. 140.) 2. For no one can assert that there does not exist in evert uncombined particle of matter which is capable of being assimilated, the ability To exhibit vital actions, when placed in the requi- site conditions. [Compare this with the requisition of the reviewer, pp. 21, 37] Again, There is an- other set of changes in which vital actions would seem yet more intimately concerned, but which still appear to be immediately dkpendent upon the same laws as those which regulate inorganic matter [.'] Tlicse consi.<it in the production, from alimentary materials, of organic compounds, either »uch as um, sugar, albumen, gelatine, etc., which are destined to be still firther organized, or such as urea, etc. This process must not be confounded with that of organization, since it only prepares the materials upon which that is concerned. (Carp. Princip. pp. 138,145.) 6](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21145106_0041.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
