362 MAN --AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



human body is, in some respects, like the battery in 

 common use that is, its loss of difference in poten- 

 tial is due to the action of the battery itself. This 

 being the case, the organs which eliminate waste 

 matter and those which contribute additional energy 

 may be justly regarded as the organs which preserve 

 the difference in potential. As for the organs of elimi- 

 nation, one would expect that for such a large energy 

 transformer as man, the most important organ of the 

 eliminating mechanism would be large in proportion 

 to man's size ; that it would have a protected location 

 in the center of the body ; that it would have a wide 

 margin of safety to cover the emergencies of life. 

 Furthermore, when this neutralizing organ is excised, 

 the electro-motor would be quickly impaired ; fabri- 

 cation of electricity would quickly be arrested ; and 

 the animal, together with the battery, would be 

 "dead." The organ which complies with this descrip- 

 tion, and is the chief of those organs serving to maintain 

 the difference of potential between the brain and the 

 muscles, apparently is the liver. The ultimate and 

 final ejection of the waste products, thus prepared for 

 elimination by the liver, is accomplished by the kidneys 

 and the lungs. In addition to this fundamental work 

 of elimination, the liver also stores fuel glycogen. 



Thus we see that there is in the body an automatic 

 non-polarizable battery, a mechanism for keeping the 

 muscles (the motor) cleared of waste, nerve ceptors 

 specifically adapted to internal and external environ- 

 mental stimuli, and nerve conductors for transmit- 

 ting stimuli to the adaptive action patterns in the 

 brain. 



