64 THE NATURE OF LIFE 



minish the ability of the cell to absorb 

 oxygen. This would lead to decreased 

 output of carbon dioxide. But this 

 seems to be an error as the experiments 

 carried on in my laboratory have shown 

 that in many cases the anesthetic instead 

 of decreasing the output of carbon dioxide 

 actually increases it. 



It has been stated that the combustion 

 of the organism goes on in aqueous solu- 

 tion. This might surprise the lay reader 

 who thinks of his own body as a solid 

 rather than a liquid. He might suppose 

 that it was intended to apply to the 

 blood or other liquids of the body but 

 not to such an apparently solid structure 

 as a muscle. It is, however, in the muscle 

 and other living cells of the body that 

 most of the combustion occurs and this 

 is possible because they combine to an 

 extraordinary degree the properties of 

 liquids with those of solids. In this re- 

 spect they resemble a jellyfish which is 

 nearly all water yet is so firm that you 

 can not readily squeeze liquid out of it. 



