BiOTic State of Energy 105 



that are charged mth the condensed and perfect form of biotic 

 energy. On stimulation from the brain or spinal cord, the 

 nerves act on and break up these biotically-charged molecules, 

 with discharge of energy in the form of the lower or electric 

 type. 



A similar explanation would apply to the luminous organs 

 of insects and of some fishes, to such thermic organs in plants 

 as germinating seeds or flower spathes, and to various portions 

 or organs of animals. Naturally in all of these cases we premise 

 constant chemic transformation, but we regard this as a process 

 essentially subsidiary to a physical energizing activity that 

 primarily involves flows of energy from a definite point, that 

 becomes a center of stimulation, due to the action there of an 

 external stimulus, or, following Eimer, of an internal stimulus 

 that originally represented external stimulation. 



Chlorophyll and protoplasmic substance then in themselves 

 seem to be mainly upbuilders and accumulators of biotic en- 

 ergy, and as already stated (p. 77) show in their simpler organic 

 personalities such as the cells of Chroococcus or Aphanothece 

 rather sluggish response to environal stimuli such as gravity, 

 light, heat, or chemical agents. So they appear as irregular, 

 diffuse, and uncorrelated patches of cells. But, as chromatin 

 granules, threads, and skeins become increasingly evolved in 

 higher members of the group, corresponding delicacy of response 

 can be traced. To this, however, we can return in succeeding 

 pages. 



As regards the capacity for resistance of such protoplasm 

 to extremes of environal action, we show in another section 

 (p. 57) that many simple organisms now living can endure 

 Tvithout injury exposure to temperatures that range from — 200° 

 C. up to +100° C, particularly when enclosed in mucilaginous 

 or similar coverings that prevent over-rapid flows of energy. 

 Elsewhere and in the present work (p. 27) the writer gives 

 reasons for believing that primitive organisms evolved when 

 the average water temperatures of the earth varied between 

 75° C. and 85° C. Resistance to other environal agents will 

 be considered later. 



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