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Show 24 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTOr. So Life's first powers arrest the winds and floods, To bones convert then1, or to shells, 0r woods; Stretch the vast beds of argil, lime, and sand, And from diminish'd oceans form the land.! "' Next the long nerves unite their silver tra1n, And young SENSATIDN permeates the brain·; 'Through each new sense the ·keen ·emotions dart, I 270 . Flush the young cheek, and swell the throbbiqg heart. And from diniinish'd oceaus, ·1. ·26B. Theincrease of the solid parts of the globe by the recrements of organic ·bodies, as Jjmestone rocks from shells and bones, and the beds of clay, mar1, coals, from decomposed woods, is now well known to those who have attended t-o modern geology; and Dr. Halley, and others, have endeavoured to show, with great probability, that the ocean has decreased in quantity .during the short time which human hist01:y has existed. Whence it appears, that the exertions of vegetable and animal life convert the fluid parts of the globe into solid ones; which is probably effected by .combining the matter of heat with the other elements, instead .of suffering it to remain simply diffused amongst them, which is a .curious cDnjecture, and deserves further investigation. And young Sensation, l. 270. Both sensation and volitim· ·consist in an affection of ,the central part of the sensorium, or of the whole of it; and hence cannot exist till the nerves are united in the brain .. The motions of a limb of any animal cut from the body, arc therefore owing to irritation, not to sensation or to volition. For the definitions of irritation, sensation, volition, and association, s.ee additional Note II. C.ANT01. PRO])UCTION OF LIFE. From pain and pleasure quick Vor .. ITIONs rise, Lift the strong arm, or point the inquiring eyes; With Reason's light bewilder'd Man direct, And right and wrong with balance nice detect. 25 Last in thick swarms AssociATIONs spring, Thoughts join to thoughts, to motions motions cling; Whence in long trains of catenation flow Imagined joy, and voluntary woe. 280 " So, view' d through crystal spheres in drops saline, Quick-shooting salts in chemic forms combine; Or Mucor-stems, a vegetative tribe, Spread their fine roots, the tremulous ·wave imbibe. Next to our wondering eyes the focus brings Self-moving lines, and animated rings; Or Mucor-stems, I. £83. .1\fucor or mould in its early state is properly a microscopic vegetable, and is spontaneously produced on the scum of all deGomposing organic matter. The Monas is a moving speck, the Vibrio an undulating wire, the Proteus perpetually changes its shape, and the Vorticella has wheels about its mouth, with which it makes an eddy, and is supposed thus to draw into its throat invisible animalcules. These names are from Linneus and Muller; see Appendix to Additional Note I. E |