Page:Aristotelous peri psuxes.djvu/45

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CH. III.]
VITAL PRINCIPLE.
35

body without having first settled for what purpose the body is to receive it, or how it is fitted for the office. It would seem, however, to be necessary that this should be settled, as it is through this connexion that the one acts and the other is acted upon, that the one moves and the other is moved; and these are relations which cannot be attributed to casual associations. There are writers who content themselves with saying what Vital Principle is, without determining any thing about the body its recipient, as if it were admissible, according to Pythagorean legends, that any kind of Vital Principle might clothe itself with any kind of body; but every thing, on the contrary, seems to have its own particular character and form. Such opinions are, in fact, very much like maintaining that the builder's art may be undertaken with musical instruments; but we affirm that as each art must employ its own instruments, so each Vital Principle must employ its own body.