414 TEMPERATURE AND LIFE, 



One has a right therefore to assume that all flowers evolve a certaira 

 amount of beat, variable, it is nue, for one flower diflers from' another* 

 but always clearly appreciable. A similar evolution is observed in the- 

 active organs of plants when they are excited to movement, it has; 

 been established in the case of germs by the means of thermo-electpic^ 

 needles. It is much more sensible than in the case of adult plants^ m 

 which life is less active and intense. 



We see in the vegetable, as in the animal kingdom, that heat is gen- 

 erated, and that it is due, for the most part, to oxidations within them- 

 selves. It is possible to establish the existence of a complete likeness 

 between these two classes of organisms. The demonstration which 

 substantiates itself every day of the identity and unity of the funda- 

 mental laws of life, in spite of variation in form and appearance, is not 

 one of the least benefits which have resulted from the investigations off 

 modern science. 



At the i)oint where calorification results from chemical phenomenal 

 accompanying nutrition and respiration a close dependence springs uiv 

 between it and the process of alimentation. This dependence clearly 

 exists. The phenomena of alimentation are in consequence of the in- 

 troduction of food into the organism in such a manner that it can be- 

 assimilated, portions of it immediately, and that which remains after 

 it has undergone chemical modifications. To the former category va^ 

 rious salts and water belong; to the latter, organic compounds, flesh,, 

 fruits, vegetables, milk, etc. Where there is a total lack or insuffi- 

 ciency of alimentation the animal perishes, especially when there is no» 

 reserve supply of nutriment in the form of fat. At the same time its. 

 temperature falls. This fact has been established by Chossat, who has. 

 made an exhaustive study of inanition. Animals de[)rived of nutri- 

 ment generate less h«.'at. Their temperature diminishes each day, and 

 finally, at the moment of death, sinks to 10^, 15^, or 20^ below the nor- 

 mal medium. The ten<perature of pigeons, for exami>le, falls from 4U<^' 

 or 4L'^ to 20° or IS'^. The same phenomenon exists in the case of maui 

 or mammals. It is the same with them as with a boiler when the fur- 

 nace is not fed; the fire is extinguished and heat disapi)ears. In the 

 vegetable kingdom there is in all probability a similar occurrence, al- 

 though no visible proof is given of it as far as we know. Experiment 

 in this case is very dilficult, but an indirect proof is furnished by the 

 fact, well known to agriculturists and botanists, that the supi)ression 

 or diminution of such and such mineral salts necessary to vegetable 

 life will result in the deterioration and relative unfruittiilness of the 

 l»lant. That whi(;h diminishes their vitality and their proportions di- 

 minishes also their nutrition, and as a natural conscipience their pro- 

 duction of heat. 



There is therefore between the processes of alimentation and calori- 

 fication a fixed relation, and one can readily determine among the many 

 dilferent kinds of foods those which contribute most towards caiorifi- 



