586 GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY 



Here general physiology passes into the special physiology of 

 the animal or plant cell-community and its various forms. It is 

 the task of special physiology to investigate individually the 

 special mechanisms that result from the associated life of the cells 

 in the community, and their co-operation. The sphere of general 

 physiology extends only to those vital phenomena that are common 

 to all organisms. The cell is the element of living substance. 

 All living substance exists in cells, and all the functions of living 

 substance originate in the elementary vital phenomena of the cells. 

 Hence, if the task of physiology lies in the explanation of vital 

 phenomena, general physiology can be only cell-physiology. 



