that this is the necessary result of the principle of conservation of force in vital phenomena.
It is well known that atoms, in a nascent state—i. e., at the moment of their separation from previous combination—are endowed with peculiar and powerful affinity. Oxygen and nitrogen, nitrogen and hydrogen, hydrogen and carbon, which show no affinity for each other under ordinary circumstances, readily unite when one or both are in a nascent condition. The reason seems to be that, when the elements of a compound are torn asunder, the chemical affinity which previously bound them together is set free, ready and eager to unite the nascent elements with whatever they come in contact with. This state of exalted chemical energy is retained but a little while, because it is liable to be changed into some other form of force, probably heat, and is therefore no longer chemical energy. To illustrate by the planes: matter falling down from No. 2 to No. 1 generates force by which matter is lifted from No. 1 to No. 2. Decomposition generates the force by which combination is effected. This principle underlies every thing I shall further say.
There are, therefore, two ideas or principles underlying this paper: 1. The correlation of vital with physical and chemical forces; 2. That in all cases vital force is produced by decomposition—is transformed nascent affinity. Neither of these is new. Grove, many years
