INERTIA 9 



leading cramped lives and fighting among ourselves, whether in 

 peace or war, for a modicum of the means of existence, science 

 tells us that, in the commonest materials that make up the 

 framework of the world, there is energy of a magnitude of which 

 we have no experience, and the means of livelihood of which we 

 have no standard. The energy is there. The knowledge that 

 can utilise it is not not yet." In a similar way, the nations 

 had difficulty in procuring rations of sufficient energy-content 

 during the later days of the war, while all around them were 

 abundant supplies, but no method existed by which their energy 

 could be made available. 



Physiological availability. 



This introduces a further point. The energy-content of cellu- 

 lose is much the same as that of starch, yet as a source of energy 

 for man the former substance is useless, while the latter is perhaps 

 his main source of energy supply. An inorganic example may 

 make this clearer. Two lakes may be exactly similar except 

 that one has an outlet, while the other is surrounded by impass- 

 able mountains. The water power, i.e. the stored energy of the 

 former, is utilisable, while the latter could not be tapped with- 

 out arduous engineering labours. The energy-contents of the 

 radio-elements (atomic energy) of cellulose (as human food) and 

 of the undrained lake are said to be non-utilisable. Future 

 scientists may discover how to draw upon this surplus energy 

 supply. 



Inertia. 



The second law of energetics lends itself to the deduction that 

 the cause of all action (change) is the tendency of energy to attain 

 the same uniform degree of intensity as its environment. Further, 

 the degradation of energy follows the line of least resistance. 

 This is known as the " Law of Least Action " or the " Principle 

 of Le Chatelier." It is a law common to all sciences, and is 

 considered by some to be a universal principle. Physicists tell 

 us that bodies remain in a state of rest or of uniform motion in 

 a straight line unless energy be imparted to them to overcome 

 their inertia. Inertia is the resistance to change possessed by 

 everything, living and non-living. 



One may take a step further and qualify the law by stating 

 that the nature of the change induced by an alteration in any 

 factor which influences the system will depend on what will, in 



