ANIMAL ELKCTRICITY.— LECTURE ■ IV. '85 



and it is conceivable that by the reducing action of 

 living matter upon sugar, a deposit of fat might be 

 effected. 



There would at first thought seem to be very little 

 continuity of ideas between the experiments we have 

 just witnessed and those to which I am now turning. 

 In [)oint of fact there is a close relation between them ; 

 the electrolytic disruption of simple chemical mole- 

 cules, which we are about to touch upon, is in all 

 probability the key phenomenon that will one day 

 admit us to the deeper comprehension of the manifold 

 disruptions and reunions of the complex chemical 

 molecules that compose living matter. 



It is a first step in that direction to make clear to 

 ourselves that the phenomena of electrical excitation 

 and inhibition are above all of polar and electrolytic 

 (that is, of chemical) mechanism. It will be a further 

 step in the same direction to recognise that electro- 

 lytic movements, which stand out with comparative 

 clearness from amid the unexplained jungle of 

 excitatory phenomena — with such clearness indeed 

 that we are at first sight tempted to deny their physio- 

 logical character — are nevertheless subject to physio- 

 loo-ical conditions, and at the same time accessible to 

 chemical modifications. 



But I shall not apply myself to the building of a 

 visionary castle — it is my purpose rather to diligently 

 grovel among phenomena that are elementary and 

 fundamental ; I allude more especially to electrotonic 



