142 SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



problem is essentially the same ; to deprive the hen 

 of strength by subtracting heat, or by withholding 

 of nourishment, is in substance the same thing. 

 The waste of energy which the sole fact of living 

 presupposes is equivalent to an equal consumption 

 of energy, which is what must repair the loss of 

 nourishment ; if this is excluded, as in the experi- 

 ments of Canalis and Morpurgo upon hens and 

 pigeons, it is equivalent to a loss of energy, just as 

 when they are deprived of heat through cold water. 

 Animals thus deprived of nourishment will continue 

 to live, first, on the organic accumulations, such as 

 fat ; then, when these are exhausted, their own 

 chemical composition will have to supply strength 

 in the form of heat, affinity, electricity, etc. ; and 

 these essential energies in the hen cannot proceed 

 from any other part than its own biological chemicals 

 of formula N, and this waste of energy presupposes 

 an equal transformation of matter by alteration of 

 the chemical formula, which will make possible the 

 development of some disease or even death. Were 

 it not so, the law of the equilibrium of forces would 

 not be true. Its application to individuals who 

 undergo excess of fatigue and live under bad 

 hygienic conditions, and to those who do not eat 

 sufficient food and suffer chronic hunger and its 

 consequences, is perfectly clear, and needs no 

 comment. 



