Editing Vitalism (section)

===Early modern===
Vitalists included English anatomist [[Francis Glisson]] (1597–1677) and the Italian doctor [[Marcello Malpighi]] (1628–1694).<ref name="Charles Birch 1985, pp. 76">{{harvnb|Birch|Cobb|1985|pp=76–78}}</ref> [[Caspar Friedrich Wolff]] (1733–1794) is considered to be the father of [[Epigenesis (biology)|epigenesis]] in [[embryology]], that is, he marks the point when embryonic development began to be described in terms of the proliferation of cells rather than the incarnation of a preformed soul. However, this degree of empirical observation was not matched by a mechanistic philosophy: in his ''[[Theoria Generationis]]'' (1759), he tried to explain the emergence of the organism by the actions of a ''vis essentialis'' (an organizing, formative force). [[Carl Reichenbach]] (1788–1869) later developed the theory of [[Odic force]], a form of life-energy that permeates living things.

In the 17th century, modern science responded to [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s [[action at a distance]] and the mechanism of [[Cartesian dualism]] with vitalist theories: that whereas the chemical transformations undergone by non-living substances are reversible, so-called "organic" matter is permanently altered by chemical transformations (such as cooking).<ref name=Ede/>

As worded by [[Charles Birch]] and [[John B. Cobb]], "the claims of the vitalists came to the fore again" in the 18th century:<ref name="Charles Birch 1985, pp. 76"/> "[[Georg Ernst Stahl]]'s followers were active as were others, such as the physician genius [[Xavier Bichat|Francis Xavier Bichat]] of the Hotel Dieu."<ref name="Charles Birch 1985, pp. 76"/> However, "Bichat moved from the tendency typical of the French vitalistic tradition to progressively free himself from [[metaphysics]] in order to combine with hypotheses and theories which accorded to the scientific criteria of physics and chemistry."<ref>{{harvnb|''History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences''|p=238}}</ref> [[John Hunter (surgeon)|John Hunter]] recognised "a 'living principle' in addition to mechanics."<ref name="Charles Birch 1985, pp. 76"/>

[[Johann Friedrich Blumenbach]] was influential in establishing epigenesis in the life sciences in 1781 with his publication of ''Über den Bildungstrieb und das Zeugungsgeschäfte''. Blumenbach cut up freshwater ''[[Hydra (zoology)|Hydra]]'' and established that the removed parts would regenerate. He inferred the presence of a "formative drive" (''Bildungstrieb'') in living matter. But he pointed out that this name,
{{blockquote|like names applied to every other kind of vital power, of itself, explains nothing: it serves merely to designate a peculiar power formed by the combination of the mechanical principle with that which is susceptible of modification.}}