ALIMENTARY ENERGETICS. 135 



liquids alone are subjected to oxydizing transforma- 

 tions, to nutritive metabolism. The accelerated 

 evolution, which Liebig considered as an exceptional 

 case, was to C. Voit the rule. 



Current Ideas as to the Role of Foods. — The ideas 

 of to-day are not those of Voit; but they do not, 

 however, differ from them essentially. We no longer 

 admit that the greater part of the ingested and 

 digested albumen remains confined in the circulating 

 medium external to the anatomical elements. It is 

 held, with Pflliger and the school of Bonn, that it 

 penetrates the anatomical element and is incorpor- 

 ated in it ; but in agreement with Voit it is believed 

 that a very small part is assimilated to the really 

 living matter, to the protoplasm properly so called ; 

 the greater part is deposited in the cellular element 

 as reserve-stuff. The material, properly so called, of 

 the living machine does not undergo destruction and 

 reparation as extensively as our predecessors supposed. 

 There is no need for great reparation. On the con- 

 trary, the physiological activity consumes to a great 

 extent the reserve-stuff. And the greater part of 

 the food, after having undergone suitable elabora- 

 tion, serves to replace the reserve-stuff destroyed 

 in each anatomical element by the vital functional 

 activity. 



Experimental Facts. — Among the facts which 

 brought physiologists of the school of Voit to believe 

 that most foods do not get beyond the internal 

 medium, there is one which may well be mentioned 

 here. It has been observed that the consumption of 

 oxygen in respiration increases notably (about a fifth 

 of its value) immediately after a meal. What does 

 this mean ? The interval is too short for the digested 



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