The object of this paper was, to state and estimate the scientific value of a variety of facts, which have been recorded by various physiologists; and many of which have been verified by personal observation, in proof of the proposition,—That the fluids of living bodies, or in immediate contact with them, are in many instances liable to movements,—dependent on the vitality of those bodies, but independent of any vital contractions of their solids,—and which can hardly be conceived to be effected otherwise than by certain attractions and repulsions, peculiar to the living state.