244 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



Just as in the production of electrical 

 energy by means of a dynamo, which is an 

 energy-transformer, there is a conversion of 

 mechanical energy into electrical energy, 

 and this electrical energy shows its peculiar 

 properties by which electricity is characterized 

 and, in turn, according to the transformer 

 through which it is passed, may be turned 

 into various other forms of energy, such as 

 mechanical energy, magnetic energy, heat, 

 light, or chemical energy, so chemical energy 

 in the living cell is converted by the colloidal 

 structure into the peculiar type of energy 

 characteristic of living organisms, which has 

 been called biotic energy, and this biotic 

 energy manifesting its own specific properties 

 in the process, is convertible into mechanical 

 energy, electrical energy, heat energy, or 

 chemical energy. 



All energy transformations are oscillatory 

 or phasic in their discharges. Each energy 

 transformer has its phasic period, or revolution 

 time, in which it passes through a cycle or 

 oscillation. This is equally true of the living 

 energy-transformers or living cells, and the 

 period varies from one type of cell to another. 

 As a rule, being dependent as has been seen 

 upon the more complex character of the 

 constituent colloids, the period of oscillation 



