Physiological fragments : to which are added supplementary observations to shew that vital and chemical energies are of the same nature, and both derived from solar light / by John Bywater.

  • Bywater, John.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physiological fragments : to which are added supplementary observations to shew that vital and chemical energies are of the same nature, and both derived from solar light / by John Bywater. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    and perhaps it is a question as far beyond the clear comprehension of finite beings, as the nature of that almighty Cause whence it is derived; yet there are many imposing facts to support the conclusion, that its mode of operation, when connected with tangible matter, is not of such an incomprehensible nature. That a vital energy is concerned in almost every organic change, is an inference resting on such a train of experimental results, that we can scarcely doubt its correctness ; and it will be the chief object of this Essay to point out some of the hitherto unobserved laws by which it brings about so many important changes in the material world. After having connected these views with several vegetable and animal processes, the phenomena of the atmosphere very naturally become a subject of consideration; and by pursuing this branch of the inquiry, we are gradually led to enter-