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CH. I.] the instrument. Thus, vision is the essence of an eye, as cutting is that of an axe, for, could the organ or be deprived of those faculties, they would no longer, save in name, be eye or axe; and this holds good of the living body, which, if deprived of its essence, its Vital Principle that is, being no longer able to fulfil its purposes in creation, is not to be regarded, save in name, as an organised body.

Note 10, p 61. It is then obvious that neither Vital Principle, &c.] There is an apparent contradiction in this passage, owing to the want of completeness in the —the Vital Principle, as the essence, cannot be distinct from the organs of the body, since they depend upon it for their functions; but the mind, being, (ἀπαθὴς ὁ νοῦς) and the cause of all the higher faculties, may exist apart from all which is corporeal and even sentient, and thus survive the body's death and decay. Thus, Aristotle has elsewhere observed that it is scarcely possible for anything to be of higher value or more influential than the Vital Principle, and quite impossible that anything should be more so than the mind.

Note 11, p. 61. It is doubtful, however, whether, &c.] Whether, that is, the Vital Principle is separable from the body, as the mariner is from his vessel—whether, as he is not necessarily involved in its wreck, so it may survive the death of the body. But the question evidently pertains to psychology, and can scarcely be