112 LIFE AND DEATH. 



tion or simplification of the substance of reserve takes 

 place. Here is something that meets the case, and 

 we may note the coincidence. It does not mean that 

 the disposable energy is really used to increase the 

 protoplasm, nor that the protoplasm itself is thereby 

 increased. It merely signifies that the wherewithal 

 exists to provide for that increase if it takes place. 



It is therefore possible that the active protoplasm 

 follows the law of functional assimilation ; but it is 

 certain that the reserve-stuff follows the law laid down 

 by Claude Bernard. 



All these considerations definitely result in the 

 confirmation of this second law of general physiology, 

 according to which all vital energies are borrowed 

 from the potential chemical energy of the reserve-stuff 

 of alimentary origin. 



4. THE THIRD LAW OF BIOLOGICAL ENERGETICS. 



The third law of biological energetics is also drawn 

 from experiment. It relates no longer to the point of 

 departure of the cycle of animal energy, but to its 

 final position. Tlie energetic transformations of tJie 

 animal end in tliermal energy. 



This is the most novel part of the theory, and, if we 

 may say so, that least understood by physiologists 

 themselves. The energy resulting from the chemical 

 potential of food, having passed through the organism 

 (or simply through the organ which we are considering 

 in action), and having given rise to phenomenal ap- 

 pearances more or less diversified, more or less dim or 

 clear, obscure or obvious, which are the characteristic 

 or still irreducible manifestations of vitality, finally 



