Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Vitalism, Physiology, Immaterialism, Government, Politics

    Notes the lack of consensus among physiologists over the idea that an immaterial vital principle exists in organised bodies. Argues that the recent budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robert Lowe, is an 'organized body incorporating a vital principle' and observes that, according to the Prime Minister William E Gladstone, the government maintained such a principle by imposing extra taxes on income-tax payers. Insists that the budget's 'Vital Principle' is not immaterial, but a hard and serious matter—confiscation.