ORD1NAR Y ENERGY 



of energy will be set free in one form or other, than escapes 

 at the death of an inferior structure, a fact which, however, 

 cannot be satisfactorily demonstrated by the apparatus at 

 present at our command. And, from the teaching of the 

 new school we are justified in concluding, that since the 

 brain cell in its formation must absorb a greater amount of 

 energy than a cell of lower organization, it follows that 

 the most highly endowed brain cell will have made its 

 own considerably more energy than an ordinary cell of the 

 same character. But all this is absurd. 



If a picture like a steam-engine, and a windmill be 

 merely 'a result of the action of ordinary energy, it should 

 follow that in a great picture a result of the activity of 

 very highly endowed nerve cells, had been accumulated a 

 far greater amount of energy than in a daub ; and according 

 to the new force philosophy, when the work of the great 

 artist is subjected to combustion more energy in the form 

 of motion, heat, light, or some other mode of force, ought 

 to be set free, than from the oxidation under precisely 

 similar conditions of the same amount of oil, paint, and 

 canvas, in a crude and formless state ! The only drawbacks 

 to the demonstration of such an important truth by insti- 

 tuting crucial experiments are the difficulty of determining 

 the really great picture, and the very costly nature of the 

 proceeding if this preliminary question had been satisfac- 

 torily settled. 



But, consider the marvellous endowments of living 

 matter, are they not altogether distinct from ordinary ma- 

 terial forces ? Is the difference between the oak and the 

 dog to be expressed in matter and force terms ? Does the 

 liver cell differ from the nerve cell in mere force, or is the 



