Sketch of an Organismal Theory of Consciousness 339 



sibly certain heart flutterings, may be more persistent move- 

 ments than those connected with breathing. But these are 

 less certain signs of individual life. It is only to philosophy 

 of the elementalist sort that the mere twitch of a hand or an 

 eyelid or a trace of heart action would be a satisfactory 

 proof of life. Nor would it be to a philosopher of this school 

 should the "living substance" under observation happen to 

 pertain to a loved relation or friend. Satisfactory evidence 

 of life in this case would come only with the nearly simul- 

 taneous return of breathing and consciousness. A right 

 interesting section could be written at this point on the 

 importance of nutriment in the ordinary sense, and of drink, 

 as compared with air at the very beginning and ending stages 

 of the individual life. For instance such questions would 

 have to be considered as that of the independence of the new 

 individual for a while at the outset on food-yolk in many 

 animals below the mammals, and on placental connections in 

 mammals ; that is on material metabolically elaborated by 

 the older or parent individual. But such a discussion not 

 being indispensable to this sketch, must be foregone. Enough 

 here to emphasize the fact that while it may be entirely jus- 

 tifiable to regard oxygen as a food as some good modern 

 physiologists do the two important facts should never be lost 

 sight of that (1) oxygen (air) is the one and only ever- 

 present and never varying constituent of the dietary. In 

 other words that it is the one constituent which nature sup- 

 plies as by "free grace" to use a good old theological ex- 

 pression; and that (2) oxygen is the one and only food that 

 needs no digesting and so no digestive organs or tissues set 

 apart for its metabolic elaboration.* 



Oxygen is the only food which passes directly as such to 



*Were the view held by some physiologists, that the alveolar epithe- 

 lium of the lungs transmits atmospheric oxygen to the blood by an active 

 process spoken of as a secreting, this statement would need modifying 

 somewhat. However, the view does not seem to be accepted by most 

 authorities. 



