CHAPTER VI. 



NUTRITION. 



FUNCTIONAL ASSIMILATION. FUNCTIONAL DESTRUC- 

 TION. ORGANIC DESTRUCTION. ASSIMILATING 

 SYNTHESIS. 



The extreme importance of nutrition i. Effect of vital 

 activity Destruction or growth Distinction between the 

 living substance and the reserve-stuff mingled with it 

 Organic destruction Destruction of reserve-stuff De- 

 struction of living matter Growth of living matter 

 2. The two categories of vital phenomena Foundations 

 of the idea of functional destruction The two kinds of 

 phenomena of vitality Criticism of Claude Bernard 

 Current views Criticism of Le Dantec's new theory of 

 life. 3. Correlation of the two kinds of vital facts Law 

 of connection Contradictions in the new theory. 4. The 

 characteristics of nutrition Its definition Its permanence 

 Erroneous idea of the vital vortex Formative assimilation 

 of reserve-stuff Formative assimilation of protoplasm 

 Death, real and apparent. 



The Immense Importance of Nutrition. We new 

 come to the important feature of vitality. All other 

 characteristics of living matter, its unstable equilibrium, 

 its chemical and anatomical organization, the acquisi- 

 tion and the maintenance of a typical form, are only 

 secondary properties, so to speak, subordinate with 

 reference to nutrition. Generation itself is only a 

 mode. Nutrition is the essential attribute of life. It 

 is life itself. 



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