ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the XVIIth century Iatro-mechanism so completely counterbalanced Iatro-chemistry that the mechanics of the living being rather than the composition of the humours became the object of study. This undoubtedly resulted in the tendency towards solidism, of which the first signs are to be found in Ettmüller and which became more accentuated in Baglivi, Lancisi and Hecquet. While the chemical school became blended with the humoral, the Iatro-mechanical school drifted from solidism into organicism. From the idea that solids were the principal conditions of life there was only one step to the idea that vital movement was all important in organic functions.
