There is then no
difficulty in accepting the entity of the spirit in man, the
materialistic assertion to the contrary notwithstanding. But the vital
force is exclusively concerned with the construction of matter. Here we
have a right to expect that physical and chemical forces should hold the
whole ground of an explanation, if an explanation is possible at all.
Now, physical and chemical forces are no entities; they are invariably
connected with matter. In fact, they are so intimately connected with
matter that they can never be dissevered from it altogether. The energy
of matter may be latent or patent, and, when patent, it may manifest
itself in one form or the other, according to the condition of its
surroundings; it may manifest itself in the shape of light, heat,
electricity, magnetism, or vitality; but in one form or the other
energy constantly inheres in matter. The correlation of forces is now a
well-established, scientific fact, and it is more than plausible that
what is called the vital principle, or the vital force, forms a link in
the chain of the other known physical forces, and is, therefore,
transmutable into any of them; granted even that there is such a thing
as a distinct vital force.
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