THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY 129 



" just as closely, and no more related to the various 

 forms of energy existing apart from life, as these 

 are to one another, and that in the presence of 

 the proper and adapted energy transformer, viz. 

 the living cell, it is capable of being formed from 

 or converted into various of these other forms of 

 energy, the law of conservation of energy being 

 obeyed in the process just as it would be if an 

 exchange were taking place between any two or 

 more of the latter forms ". It would hardly seem 

 that Professor Moore had escaped from all the 

 difficulties of the situation by this method of leaping 

 over the fence, for we still require an account of 

 the action of "the proper and adapted energy 

 transformer, viz. the living cell " this being exactly 

 the difficulty that is encountered in all the solutions 

 of the difficulty which have been heretofore pro- 

 posed. 



It has, for example, been urged that the power 

 which frees the energy is so small that it may be 

 regarded as inappreciable when incorporated in the 

 total result. In fact it has been compared with the 

 tiny spark which is capable of exploding a mine of 

 blasting-powder and releasing an enormous amount 

 of energy by the expenditure of an amount which is 

 so small as to be almost negligible in the whole 

 account of the transaction. To some extent, no 



doubt, this is all quite true. "As far as we can 



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