CHAPTER XV 



ELECTRO-CHEMICAL PHENOMENA 



PHYSICISTS tell us that, in the last analysis, the pri- 

 mal stuff alike of matter and of energy is electricity. 

 Whatever may be the superficial aspects of man's form 

 and functions, ultimately they are phenomena of elec- 

 tricity. We may well ask, therefore : Is the trans- 

 formation of energy by which men and animals are 

 enabled to adapt themselves to their environment effected 

 through an electro-chemical mechanism? 



If this be true, there should be evidence to show : 

 (1) that electricity is produced in the body ; (2) that 

 a current of nerve action, an electrical phenomenon, 

 always accompanies the passage of the nerve impulse ; 

 (3) that in motor organs the electro-motive force of this 

 current varies with the rate and extent of energy trans- 

 formation ; (4) that when there is no transformation 

 of energy, there is no action current ; (5) that electric- 

 ity alone, either directly or indirectly, can excite vari- 

 ous organs and tissues to perform their function ; 



(6) that in the body are structures well suited to be 

 parts of an electro-chemical mechanism which is capa- 

 ble of performing the work of the body ; and fin all}' 



(7) that no other form of mechanism is capable of 

 performing this work. 



One of the oldest established facts in the physiology 

 of plants and animals is the fact that there is an electro- 



356 



