5. The aging processes arc connected with a 'falHng off of the utiUzation 

 of the energy of oxidational processes for the syntliesis of macroergic systems of 

 tissues, and the very consumption of the energy of the macroergs "falls ofT" 

 with the processes of synthesis. As a result, there is a progressive decline of the 

 synthetic potentialities of the organism with increasing age. 



6. With increasing age, there is an increasing disharmony in the neuro- 

 hormonal regulation of the vital processes and in the coordination and reciprocal 

 "fit", dependent on this regulation, of the processes of the animal organism as a 

 whole. There is a decline of the vitality of the neurohormonal regulation and a 

 decrease of the al)ilit\" of the tissues to respond to this action. 



7. In ontogenesis, there is a progressive suppression of the capacity for 

 restoration of the composition of the protoplasm of the organism to its full value, 

 a decrease in autoregeneration of the protoplasm complex, which leads to irre- 

 versible changes in the composition of the entire organism and of its individual 

 tissues and organs. 



This last concept is based on the following extremely important statement 

 by F. Engels: "Life is a method of existence of protein substances, and this 

 method of existence consists essentially in a continuous renewal of the consti- 

 tuent chemical parts of these substances . . ."^ 



This autoregeneration of proteins (protoplasm) develops with age, and 

 this development is not a simple restoration of that composition of the proto- 

 plasm which is characteristic of the preceding stage of ontogenesis. In addition, 

 the age-associated development at the earliest stages is characterized by a 

 capacity for autoregeneration such that the total biochemical and functional 

 potential does not drop but, on the contrary, increases. Thus, in his work en- 

 titled "Characteristics of the individual evolution of the animal organism" 

 (1947), Nagorniy wrote as follows: "The amount of energy evolved by a unit 

 of live weight after fertilization of the ovum first increases, then reaches a cer- 

 tain maximum at an age that is fixed and characteristic for the species in ques- 

 tion, and thereafter decreases during the entire rest of the animal's life. This 

 pattern is characteristic not only of the whole organism but also of its parts 

 taken individually: of its organs and tissues, and consequently, of living matter 

 itself." 



Some very interesting ideas are expressed by Nagorniy as to the significance 

 of the progressive structuration of protoplasmic formations at the beginning of 

 ontogenesis. He starts with the notion that structural and functional specializa- 

 tion of protoplasm, arising in the differentiation of cells and tissues, initially 

 plays the role of heightening the vital potential. It increases the heterogenicity 

 of the protoplasm, creates new colloidal surfaces, and intensifies the disequilib- 

 rium of the living matter as a whole. 



"The resting ovum," writes Nagorniy, "exhibits an insignificant metabo- 

 lism, and also, at the same time, apparently, an insignificant differentiation. 

 The development of the ovum is also characterized by a heightened metabolism 

 and an increased differentiation. This differentiation is multiple and varied; 



^ F. Engels: Anti-Duhring, Gospolitizdat, 1948, pp. 77-78. 



36 



