606 FRAGMENTS OP SCTENCW. 
By turning the handle of a magneto-electric machine a 
coil of wire may be caused to rotate between the poles of a 
magnet. As long as the two ends of the coil are uncon- 
nected we have simply to overcome the ordinary inertia and 
friction of the machine in turning the handle. But the 
moment the two ends of the coil are united by a thin 
platinum wire a sudden addition of labor is thrown upon 
the turning arm. When the necessary labor is expended, 
its equivalent immediately appears. The platinum wire 
glows. You can readily maintain it at a white heat, or 
even fuse it. This is a very remarkable result. From the 
muscles of the arm, with a temperature of 100 degrees, we 
extract the temperature of molten platinum, which is 
nearly four thousand degrees. The miracle here is the 
reverse of that of the burning bush mentioned in Exodus. 
There the bush burned, but was not consumed: here the 
body is consumed, but does not burn. The similarity of 
the action with that of the voltaic battery when it heats 
an external wire is too obvious to need pointing out. 
When the machine is used to decompose water, the heat of 
the muscle, like that of the battery, is consumed in molec- 
ular work, being fully restored when the gases recombine. 
As before, also, the transmuted heat of the muscles may 
be bottled up, carried to the polar regions, and there 
restored to its pristine form. 
The matter of the human body is the same as that of the 
world around us; and here we find the forces of the human 
body identical with those of inorganic nature. Just as 
little as the voltaic battery is the animal body a creator of 
force. It is an apparatus exquisite and effectual beyond all 
others in transforming and distributing the energy with 
which it is supplied, but it possesses no creative power. 
Compared with the notions previously entertained regard- 
ing the play of " vital force " this is a great result. The 
problem of vital dynamics has been described by a com- 
petent authority as "the grandest of all." I subscribe to 
this opinion, and honor correspondingly the man who first 
successfully grappled with the problem. He was no pope, 
in the sense of being infallible, but he was a man of genius 
whose work will be held in honor as long as science 
endures. I have already named him in connection with 
our illustrious countryman Dr. Joule. Other eminent 
