Excerpt from Life: Its Nature, Varieties, and Phenomena The object of this work is two-fold. First, it is proposed to give a popular account of the phenomena which indicate the presence of that mysterious, sustaining force we denominate Life, or Vitality, and of the laws which appear to govern their mani festation; secondly, will be considered those Spiritual, or Emo tional and Intellectual States, which collectively constitute the essential history of our temporal lives, rendering existence either pleasurable or painful. The inquiry will thus embrace all the most interesting and instructive subjects alike of physiology and psychology: the constitution and functions of the bodies in which we dwell; the delights which attend the exercise of the intellect and the affections; the glory and loveliness of the works of God, will all come under notice, and receive their fitting meed of illus tration. Especially will the practical value and interest of life be pointed out; the unity and fine symmetry of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good; the poetry of common things, and the intimate dependence of the whole upon Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Man, as the noblest recipi ent, upon earth, of the divine life, will naturally be the principal object of consideration; not, however, the only one. Seeing that he is the Archetype of the entire system of living things. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.