578 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



It has been said that Bernard has not influenced scientific thought 

 and stimulated investigation as others have, for he so nearly completed 

 the work suggested by his great discoveries. However true that may be 

 in a limited sense, the statement is unjust, for, as with all important 

 scientific discoveries, the effect produced indirectly on scientific thought 

 can not be estimated. He was the first to prove beyond a doubt that 

 animals can build up as well as break down complicated products in the 

 course of their normal nutrition. Few ideas have been more stimula- 

 ting than this and it undoubtedly greatly influenced thought which sub- 

 sequently led to the proof of the synthesis of fat and the discovery of 

 the complicated process of protein metabolism whereby protein foods 

 are broken down and built up in the body. Destruction of the theory 

 of functions encouraged further work on the various organs of the body. 

 Since then, many valuable facts have been produced showing the close 

 interrelation of functions of the organs and their interdependence on 

 each other for normal activity. The discovery of the vasomotor nerves 

 opened up an entirely new conception of the regulation of circulation 

 and temperature. It has been of untold value in explaining physiolog- 

 ical and pathological phenomena concerning this, one of the most funda- 

 mentally important functions of the body. Medical science has applied 

 it to practical problems and made the knowledge of vasomotor activity 

 indispensable to the practising physician. 



Taken altogether, his work produced results which greatly advanced 

 knowledge of physiological phenomena, placed physiology among the 

 great sciences, and opened new lines of inquiry which yet promise to 

 bear fruit of which his fertile imagination could not conceive. 



