226 METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUE. 



abstain from having recourse to less efficient agents, such as ner- 

 vous force and electrical endosmosis (although, as Du Bois Rey- 

 mond has shown, these are not without their influence) ; least of all, 

 however, should we conceal our ignorance by calling to our aid any 

 peculiar vital forces. 



But if we do not regard the occurrence of free acids, acid phos- 

 phates, and an excess of potash-salts as purely accidental, in so far 

 as we recognise their presence as the result of a necessity, that is to 

 say, as the effect of physical laws, we are also equally bound to 

 consider that their presence may not be accidental when 

 examined in a teleological point of view ; that is to say, we ought 

 also to inquire what purposes are accomplished by the occurrence 

 of the free acid, the phosphates, and the potash-salts in the fluids 

 of these organs ; or rather, what effects are necessarily produced 

 by the presence of these substances in the organs under considera- 

 tion. The present state of our knowledge does not, however, 

 enable us to decide this point with more certainty than we have 

 already indicated in the first volume, when treating of lactic acid 

 and the phosphates. We are entirely unable to conjecture the 

 effect which may be produced by the simultaneous presence of the 

 phosphates and potash-salts on the metamorphosis of matter, 

 either in the organs or in the surrounding parts ; for mere surmises 

 and hypotheses regarding polar antitheses, and the like, call for no 

 further notice till we are more conversant with the effects of 

 polarity. 



There is, however, one point of view which must not be wholly 

 neglected in our considerations of the antagonism of the reactions, 

 and of the different salts occurring in these organs and in the blood, 

 since it may, in this respect, possibly present the idea of an anta- 

 gonism between the organ and the blood under such an aspect as to 

 necessitate our relinquishing it entirely. Here, for instance, the 

 question especially arises, whether the acid reaction and the amount 

 of phosphates in the fluids are solely dependent upon the quantity of 

 fibre-cells or smooth muscular fibres contained in the organs, or 

 whether they are definitely associated with the organs as such. This 

 question must certainly be answered before we enter into further 

 discussions or investigations, since so many facts appear to show 

 that this free acid, and this abundant supply of phosphates and 

 potash-salts, which we have found to be the constant associates of 

 the smooth muscular fibres, occur in the various organs solely in 

 proportion to their number of contractile fibre-cells; we need here 

 only refer, by way of illustration, to the fact, that organs, such as 



