CHAPTER III.
Note 1, p. 29. It is not easy, however, &c.] That is, if the Vital Principle be a first cause and an element or combination of the elements, it cannot be determined, if subject to external impulse, what its movements will be—if it be of fire, it must move upwards, if of earth, downwards, and so for intermediate movements. Plato maintains, as was said, that, as there can be nothing visible or tangible without fire or solid without earth, these were the first of created elements; and that, as there can be no enduring combination out of two elements, air and water were next created and placed between the first two.
Note 2, p. 30. Now, the body is moved by translation.] This passage has been the subject of much and serious controversy, both as to its meaning and its genuineness; and yet, although an argumentum ad absurdum, it is a fair conclusion from those premises. Thus, if the Vital Principle be an entity distinct from the body which it animates, and if the body be moved, by translation, from it, the Vital Principle, having also that movement, may set itself free, and if able to do this, it may re-enter and
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