Aphorism 10

§ 10 Fifth Edition

The material organism, without the vital force, is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation1, it derives all sensation and performs all the functions of life solely by means of the immaterial being (the vital force) which animates the material organism in health and in disease.

1 It is dead, and only subject to the power of the external physical world; it decays, and is again resolved into its chemical constituents.

§ 10 Sixth Edition

The material organism, without the vital force, is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation1, it derives all sensation and performs all the functions of life solely by means of the immaterial being (the vital force the vital principle) which animates the material organism in health and in disease.

1 It is dead, and only subject to the power of the external physical world; it decays, and is again resolved into its chemical constituents.

Outline by Julian Winston (2001): Without the vital spirit (force), the organism is dead.


Leave a Comment

Organon of medicine