Biol. [a. F. vitalisme, or independently f. VITAL a. + -ISM.] The doctrine or theory that the origin and phenomena of life are due to or produced by a vital principle, as distinct from a purely chemical or physical force.
1822. W. Taylor, in Monthly Rev., XCIX. 514. His perfect knowledge of anatomy … succeeded in erecting … the vitalism of Bichot.
1877. Shields, Final Philos., 267. Leading biologists also have maintained a duality of matter and life known as vitalism.
1889. Nature, 26 Sept., 525. But even at the height of this movement there was a reaction towards vitalism, of which Virchow,… was the greatest exponent.
