112 WHAT IS LIFE? 



army at any given moment depends on the health of 

 the individual soldier, and on the perfection of the 

 machinery by which he is led and brought into action 

 at the proper time." l 



As usual, the late Professor Huxley's words are 

 perfectly clear, beautifully expressed. Yes, the human 

 being, all the higher organic bodies are complex armies, 

 but it is to the central nervous system, the head- 

 quarters and field telegraph we have to direct our 

 attention, for it is from here the essential activities 

 originate for the well-being of the individual and the 

 community. 



We know that in every army there is a supreme 

 individual power. Without that power cohesion ceases. 

 This is the incomplete part of the late Professor 

 Huxley's analogy, and his analogy is in another fact 

 defective. 



which is literally a ' nation ' of cells derived from a single cell called 

 the ovum, living together, .but dividing the work, transformed 

 variously into tissues and organs, and variously surrounded by proto- 

 plasm products. 



"In all living organisms a physiological division of labour is asso- 

 ciated with anatomical differentiation of structure. An organism 

 ranks high or low in the animal scale in accordance with the greater 

 or less diversity of its tissues and functions ; and in every organism 

 above the lowest, portions of various tissues are found united into 

 distinct masses forming organs and possessing functions each organ 

 served by and serving the entire organism. The organism is a com- 

 munity ; its individuals are cells ; groups of individuals are organs." 

 ('An Introduction to Human Physiology," A. D. Waller, M.D., 

 F.R.S., 1896, p. 2.) 



"At a pressure of 15 atmospheres animals die in convulsions, 

 at 20 atmospheres germination and putrefaction are arrested, i.e. 

 no living cell can breathe." (Idem, p. 147.) 



1 " Address at the International Medical Congress by Prof. Huxley." 

 Quoted from the Times newspaper, August 10th, 1881. 



