84 STUDIES IN 'ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY: 



which, if proved to be correct, will range the physiologist 

 and the electrical expert on the same side, while adding a 

 fresh conception of the body as a whole in relation to one 

 source of life ; at the same time enabling us to more easily 

 understand galvanometric readings of the body energy and 

 to interpret them rightly. 



" As a foundation of the theory, I propose to start from 

 one fact which, when analysed, may lead to a more correct 

 conception of our source of energy. . . . 



" The question raised is one which, so far as I can see, 

 must be answered by those who would explain ' neuro- 

 electricity,' equally with those who deny its existence. 

 Argument 



" The conditions before the birth of a child, and 

 immediately after birth, offer a field of thought. What is 

 it that enables the child to support an existence separate 

 from the mother ? 



" Let us examine the problem, bearing in mind that 

 what we require from the electrical expert's point of view 

 is (1) a linking up of the body with a source of energy, and 

 (2) an organ that will act the part of generator. 



" Before birth the foetus is alive, but nutrition, growth, 

 development, are carried out by the action of the maternal 

 blood-stream. Circulation through the fcetus is estab- 

 lished, with one important exception : there is no circulation 

 through the lung. 



" Digestive organs, nervous system, etc., are present, 

 but are functionally in abeyance till the act of birth has 

 taken place. What, then, is the difference ? It is the 

 act of breathing which determines the separate existence of 

 the child from the mother. 



" Before this act has taken place the lungs contain 

 neither blood nor air. Their function could not be called 

 into play until the need arose to link up the life with its 

 future source of energy. 



