Vi"tal , n. A vital part;
one of the vitals. [R.]
Vi"tal (?), a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr.
vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.]
1. Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.
2.
Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood.
Do
the heavens afford him vital food?
Spenser. And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth.
Milton. 3. Containing life; living. "Spirits that live throughout, vital in every part." Milton.
4. Being the seat of life;
being that on which life
depends; mortal.
The dart flew
on, and pierced a vital part.
Pope. 5. Very necessary; highly important; essential.
A competence is vital to content.
Young. 6. Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. [R.]
Pythagoras and
Hippocrates . . . affirm the birth of the
seventh month to be vital.
Sir T. Browne. Vital air, oxygen gas; -- so called because essential to animal life. [Obs.] -- Vital capacity (Physiol.), the breathing capacity of the lungs; -- expressed by the number of
cubic inches of air which can
be forcibly exhaled after a full
inspiration. -- Vital force. (Biol.)
See under Force. The vital forces, according to Cope, are nerve force (neurism), growth force (bathmism), and thought force (phrenism), all under the
direction and control of the vital principle. Apart from the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable
character, nor vital force as anything other than a
form of physical energy derived from, and convertible into, other well-known forces of nature. -- Vital
functions (Physiol.), those functions
or actions of the body on which life is
directly dependent, as the circulation of the blood, digestion, etc. -- Vital principle, an immaterial force, to which the functions peculiar to living beings are ascribed.
-- Vital statistics, statistics respecting
the duration of life, and the circumstances affecting its duration. -- Vital tripod.
(Physiol.) See under
Tripod. -- Vital vessels (Bot.),
a name for latex tubes, now disused. See Latex.
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