recruits its vigour. Perhaps it will be said that all
this is merely figurative language. Figurative language is very much
misplaced in strict philosophical investigations; and these particular
figures, which might be quite consistent with the atheistical philosophy
of Lucretius, sound ill in the mouth of a pious Christian, which Mr.
Coleridge undoubtedly was. He probably adopted them unconsciously from
Bacon; but Bacon's use of the word Nature ought rather to have served as a
warning than an example; for it has contributed, in no small degree, to
the atheistical philosophy of recent times.

The prevalent natural philosophy of the present day is that which is
called _corpuscular_, because it assumes the existence of a first matter,
consisting of _corpuscula_ or atoms, which are supposed to be definite,
though extremely small, _quantities_, invested with the _qualities_ of
extension, impenetrability, and the like; and from certain combinations of
these qualities, Life is considered, by some persons, to be a necessary
result. This philosophy Mr. Coleridge combats. The supposed atoms, he
says, are mere abstractions of the mind; and Life is not a thing, the
result of atomic arrangement or action, but is itself an act, or process.
He refutes various definitions of Life, such as, that it is the sum of all
the functions by which death is resisted; or, that it depends on the
faculty of nutrition, or of anti-putrescence. His own definition he
proposes merely as an hypothesis. Life, he says, is "the principle of
Individuation," that is to say, it is a power which discloses itself from
within, combining many qualities into one individual thing. This
individualising principle unites, as he conceives, with the cooperating
action of magnetism, electricity, and chemistry. At least, such is the
inference to be drawn from the present state of science; though it is
easily conceivable that future discoveries may bring us acquainted with
powers more directly connected with Life. The most general law governing
the action of Life, as a tendency to individuation, is here designated
_polarity_; for instance, the power termed magnetism (not meaning that
there is necessarily an actual tangible magnet in the case) has two poles,
the negative, answering to attraction, rest, carbon, &c., and the
positive, answering to repulsion, mobility, azote, &c.; and as the
magnetic needle which points to the north necessarily indicates thereby
the south, so th