INTRODUCTION.

...because, under one name or another, the idea of this being that survives the body exists as an instinctive belief, independent of any teaching, among all peoples, regardless of their degree of civilization. This doctrine, according to which the soul is the cause and not the effect, is that of the spiritualistsIn 19th-century philosophy, "spiritualism" refers broadly to any system that accepts the existence of an immaterial soul, distinct from "materialism.".

Without discussing the merit of these opinions, and considering only the linguistic side of the matter, we will say that these three applications of the word "soul" constitute three distinct ideas that would each require a different term. This word therefore has a triple meaning, and everyone is right from their own point of view in the definition they give it; the fault lies with the language for having only one word for three ideas. To avoid all ambiguity, it would be necessary to restrict the meaning of the word soul to one of these three ideas; the choice is indifferent, the main thing is to agree, it is a matter of convention. We believe it is more logical to take it in its most common meaning; that is why we call SOUL the immaterial and individual being that resides in us and which survives the body. Even if this being did not exist and were only a product of the imagination, a term would still be needed to designate it.

For lack of a special word for each of the two other points, we call:

Principe vital original: "Principe vital" or Vital principle the principle of material and organic life, whatever its source, and which is common to all living beings, from plants to man. Life being able to exist apart from the faculty of thought, the vital principle is a distinct and independent thing. The word vitality would not convey the same idea. For some, the vital principle is a property of matter, an effect produced when matter finds itself in certain given circumstances; according to others, and this is the most common idea, it resides in a special fluid, universally spread, of which each being absorbs and assimilates a part during life, just as we see inert bodies absorb light; this would then be the vital fluid which, according to some opinions, would be none other than animalized electric fluid, designated also under the names of magnetic fluid, nervous fluid, etc.

Whatever the case may be, it is a fact that one cannot contest, because it is a result of observation, that organic beings...