THE TIME OF ORGANIZED BEINGS I59 



that live to be sixty years old. Even for one individual, this 

 value seems to vary during the course of life. Our duration 

 would therefore be, in a certain measure, independent of 

 sideral time. Each human being constitutes a universe in a 

 state of continuous transformation. It is the rate of this 

 transformation which can be considered as characteristic of 

 our brief specific duration, of our physiological time itself, 

 inseparable from our consciousness. 



In short, seeing that this physiological time is truly our own, 

 an interior time, and that humoral reactions and vital pheno- 

 mena as a whole are governed by it more than by the rhythm 

 of the earth's rotation; seeing that, in all likelihood, it is from 

 our physiological reactions as a whole that we derive our notion 

 of time which is inseparable from these reactions, since we 

 must admit that consciousness is conditioned by them, we are 

 authorized to carry to its logical conclusion the reasoning 

 which motivated this digression and which brings us to the 

 comparison of sideral time with physiological time. We are 

 authorized to do it, not only by logic, but, what is more con- 

 vincing, by experiments also. M. Marcel Fran9ois, in a 

 communication presented by Prof Pieron at the Societe de 

 Biologic, entitled 'Sur Tinfluence de la temperature interne 

 sur iiotre appreciation du temps',^ concerns himself with the 

 question of whether the perception of time is influenced by 

 the increase in velocity of our internal chemical reactions. In 

 order to verify this, he exposed patients to high-frequency 

 ciurrents (short waves). The test consisted in striking a Morse 

 key three times a second — or rather the number of times 

 which corresponded to a personal estimation of three per 

 second — before and after a diathermic apphcation. After the 

 application, the internal temperature rose about 0-6° C. on an 

 average (between 0-4° and 1° C). He observed an accelera- 

 tion in the temporal standard, corresponding to a shortening in 

 the appreciation of time, in respect to the increase in temperature. 

 This is in conformity with what might have been expected 

 from the application of Van't Hoff's acceleration coefficient 

 ^ C.R. Soc. Biol.^ vol. 98, p. 152 (1928). 



