Page:Physiological Researches upon Life and Death.djvu/26

Rh tion. The eunuch possesses less vital energy; but the phenomena of life in him, are developed in greater plenitude. Let us, however, leave the consideration of those laws which give us existence, and take up those only which maintain it: we shall recur to the former hereafter.

SECTION II.

Subdivision of each of the lives, and into two orders of functions.

of the two lives, animal and organic, is made up of two orders of functions, which succeed, and are connected to, each other in an inverse ratio.

In animal life the first order is established from the exterior of the body towards the brain, and the second, from this organ towards those of locomotion and voice. The impression of objects is made successively upon the senses, the nerves, and the brain. The first receive, the second transmit, and the last perceives the impression, which being thus received, transmitted, and perceived, constitutes our sensations.

The animal is almost passive in the first order of functions; he becomes active in the second, which results,—from the successive actions of the brain—whence springs volition, the consequence of sensations, from the nerves which transmit this volition, and from the organs of locomotion and voice—the agents of its execution. External bodies act upon the animal by the first order of functions; it reacts upon them by the second.

There exists, in general, a rigorous proportion between these two orders; where the one is plainly marked, the other also is strongly developed. In a series of animals, it will be