400 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



in alternating periods of anabolism and katabolism. Thus a gland 

 cell becomes loaded or charged with the preliminary stages of the 

 characteristic secretion, and then it is unloaded or discharged, in 

 some cases almost explosively. Attempts have been made to make 

 the facts clearer by using analogies. The cell becomes surcharged, 

 just as a Leyden jar with its store of electricity; and just as the 

 charging of the Leyden jar is attended with effects conducive to 

 dissipation and retardative to further transfer, so in a general way 

 it may be with the living cell. Yet Prof. J. Joly, in his Abundance 

 of Life, argues very convincingly that the analogy breaks down badly. 

 F^or "the transfer of energy into any animate material system is 

 attended by effects conducive to the transfer, and retardative to 

 dissipation". Thus the young leaf growing in the sunlight utilises 

 certain of the rays acceleratively; the more it gets, the more it 

 grows, and the more it can take. "The organism is a configuration 

 of matter which absorbs energy acceleratively without limit, when 

 unconstrained!" 



Another analogy has been found in inorganic chemistry. Ostwald 

 has shown that one of the best known of all reactions, the evolution 

 of hydrogen gas from an acid that is dissolving a metal, may pro- 

 ceed intermittently. "F^ast" and "slow" periods quickly succeed one 

 another. It seems that this is not due to the metal becoming 

 temporarily "passive" — that is, protected by the formation of a 

 thin film of oxide; and that it is not due to the metal or the acid 

 becoming too highly saturated with the evolved gas. The cause 

 remains obscure; but it is possible that the phenomenon may 

 eventually throw light on the fact, or widely accepted fact, that 

 the chemical reactions within a living cell proceed not continuously, 

 like the movements of a turbine, but rhythmically, in a series of 

 "explosions", like the engine of a motor-car. It may be noted that 

 according to the modem "quantum theory" the energy emitted 

 from a system or absorbed by a system, is emitted or absorbed not 

 continuously, but in little bundles, parcels, or quanta. 



An attempt has been made by J. L. Sager "to explain inherent 

 rhythmicity as a physicochemical consequence of the colloidal 

 structure of protoplasm". Living matter has the physical properties 

 of a viscous, colloidal, emulsoid liquid. Owing to the viscosity of the 

 living protoplasm there is a definite resistance offered to the dis- 

 charge of energy. Owing to the unstable architecture of the protein 

 molecular aggregates, what is called "trigger" action will set free 

 a definite quantity of energy during katabolism. Then follow 

 endothermic anabolic stages, in which the molecular architecture is 

 reconstituted. Therefore katabolism and anabolism must occur in 

 alternation and intermittently; they cannot proceed side by side or 

 continuously. Hence "vital" rhythms. 



Perhaps the general idea wUl be clearer if we give Mr. Sager's 



