214 LIFE AND DEATH. 



functional activity of the yeast." It is, says the same 

 author, a mistake to beheve that the phenomena of 

 functional activity, of vital activity, only takes place 

 at the price of organic destruction. Here, then, are 

 these two competing views. They are not so very far 

 apart as a matter of fact, since the question at issue is 

 one of deciding between a slight destruction and a 

 slight growth, but theoretically they are strongly 

 opposed. Moreover, they are arbitrary, and experi- 

 ment has not decided between them. 



§ 2. THE TWO CATEGORIES OF VITAL PHENOMENA. 



Foundation of the Idea of Functional Destruction. 

 Claude Bernard. — The doctrine of functional de- 

 struction has been laid down with remarkable power 

 by Claude Bernard. But the terms in which he has 

 expressed it in a measure betray the thoughts of the 

 great physiologist, or, at any rate, overstep the 

 immediate fact he had in view. " The phenomena 

 of destruction are very obvious. When movement is 

 produced, when the muscle contracts, when volition 

 and sensibility are manifested, when thought is 

 exercised, when the gland secretes, then the sub- 

 stance of the muscles, of the nerves, of the brain, ot 

 the glandular tissue, becomes disorganized, destroyed, 

 and consumed. So that every manifestation of a 

 phenomenon in the living being is necessarily con- 

 nected with an organic destruction." To Claude 

 Bernard organic destruction is a truth. To Le Dantec 

 it is an error. Which is right? Clearly Claude 

 Bernard, He bases his conviction on the analyses 

 of the materials excreted in the process of physio- 



