210 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION 



A living part acquires, on the above supposition, 

 the capacity of offering and of overcoming re- 

 sistance, by the combination of its elementary par- 

 ticles in a certain form ; and as long as its form 

 and composition are not destroyed by opposing 

 forces, it must retain its energy uninterrupted and 

 unimpaired. 



When, by the act of manifestation of this energy 

 in a living part, the elements of the food are made 

 to unite in the same form and structure as the 

 living organ possesses, then these elements acquire 

 the same powers. By this combination, the vital 

 force inherent in them is enabled to manifest itself 

 freely, and may be applied in the same way as that 

 of the previously existing tissue. 



If, now, we bear in mind, that all matters 

 which serve as food to living organisms are com- 

 pounds of two or more elements, which are kept 

 together by certain chemical forces ; if we reflect 

 that in the act of manifestation of force in a liv- 

 ing tissue, the elements of the food are made to 

 combine in a new order ; — it is quite certain that 

 the momentum of force or of motion in the vital 

 force was more powerful than the chemical attrac- 

 tion existing between the elements of the food.* 



* The hands of a man, who raises with a rope and simple 

 pulley, SOlbs. to the height of 100 feet, pass over a space of 

 100 feet, while his muscular energy furnishes the equiUbrium to a 

 pressure of SOlbs. Were the force which the man could exert 

 not greater than would suffice to keep in equilibrium a pressure of 



