An example of an historical scientific conception:
"Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) suggested animal electricity, later called galvanism [as a vital force responsible for life]. Lorenz Oken (1779-1851) expanded on galvanism, drawing heavily on Aristotle. … Okan also set forth three kingdoms – mineral, vegetable, and animal-defined on the basis of composition…Using the classical four elements, he said that minerals contain only two (earth and one other). Vegetables contain three: earth, water, and air. Each element corresponds to galvanism and a classical faculty: nutrition, digestion, and respiration respectively. Animals contain all four elements and, thus, best represent an organic cosmos."
Lucas John Mix (2018) Life Concepts from Aristotle to Darwin. On vegetable souls. Cham, Switzerland: plagrave macmillan.
