ENERGETICS 31 



intensity factor can change but little, the capacity factor (i.e., the area of 

 surface) can vary very greatly within quite small spaces. Changes in the state 

 of aggregation of colloids, by which their surface can increase or diminish a 

 million fold, is, then, a potent factor in cell mechanics (see the remarks by 

 Freundlich, 1907, p. 102). 



LIFE AND ENERGY 



In the picturesque language of Clerk Maxwell (1876, p. 93) : "The transactions 

 of the material universe appear to be conducted, as it were, on a system of credit. 

 Each transaction consists of the transfer of so much credit or energy from one body 

 to another. This act of transfer or payment is called work." 



Now, as Benjamin Moore (1906, p. 1) rightly points out, it is just in this 

 transfer of energy that the various activities which we recognise as peculiarly vital 

 show themselves. The statement of Jennings as to the importance of regarding 

 organisms as " dynamic " has been quoted in the preface to this book. In fact, a 

 system in static equilibrium is dead. This fact, however, does not imply that 

 chemical investigation of such system is useless. Valuable information as to the 

 energy changes involved can be obtained by comparing the chemical constitution 

 of cells before and after performance of work. 



There are many phenomena known which illustrate the peculiar activity of bodies in the 

 very act itself of changing their energy content. The state of activity which can be conferred 

 upon oxygen, by the oxidation of phosphorus or benzaldehyde, for example, appears to be 

 connected with its change from a bivalent to a quadrivalent element, by which it gains electric 

 charge. The active properties, however, are only manifested during, or immediately after, 

 this change. The participation of electric forces can be shown by the steam-jet method of 

 Helmholtz and Richarz (1890, p. 192). When a jet of steam issues from a fine glass orifice, it 

 does not condense, so as to be visible, for a centimetre or so from the orifice. If bodies causing 

 the formation of gas ions, i.e., electrically charged molecules of gas, are brought into the 

 neighbourhood of the jet, condensation occurs almost at the orifice itself, and the cloud 

 becomes larger and denser. If a stick of phosphorus be brought near the jet, the effect is very 

 marked. It was shown by the observers named that none of the chemical products of the 

 oxidation of phosphorus have this property. The electrical phenomena are only to be seen 

 during the actual oxidation process itself. 



The active agent diffuses rapidly compared with currents of air ; for, in the dark, the 

 luminous vapours can be blown aside, without affecting the condensation of the steam jet. 

 It is interesting to note that one of the authors of this paper was a son of the great Hermann 

 von Helmholtz. This son, who showed much talent, unfortunately died before his father. 



A remarkable fact of interest in the present connection was noticed by Straub 

 (1907, p. 135) in the action of muscaririe on the heart of Aplysia. The drug, at 

 first present in higher concentration in the fluid in which the tissue cells are 

 immersed, passes in course of time into the cells, until equal concentration exists 

 within and without. But, although the drug can be shown to be present inside 

 the cells by their action on another heart, its effect on the heart in which it is 

 contained is no longer manifest. It is only during the actual passage into the cell, 

 while its potential, so to speak, is different on the two sides of the cell boundary 

 membrane, that it shows its characteristic effects. 



Mention must here be made of the opinion of some writers that there is a special form of 

 energy to be found in living matter, which is called by them "vital " or " biotic " energy. This 

 is supposed to be convertible into equivalent quantities of the ordinary forms of energy, 

 chemical, electrical, thermal, and so on, and vice versa. It is clear that no decision on the 

 question can be arrived at until we have some instrument by which "biotic" energy, or, at 

 all events, its intensity factor, can be measured, as the electrometer measures electrical 

 potential, or the manometer, pressure of gas or liquid. For the present the assumption is 

 purely hypothetical, and, as it seems to me, devoid of any purpose. It is to be noted that the 

 modern adherents of this doctrine do not postulate anything more than a quantitative relation- 

 ship between "biotic" and other forms of energy; in other words, the principle of the 

 conservation of energy is supposed to hold even here. 



The tendency of science is to greater simplification of the forms of energy ; radiant energy 

 has practically become a branch of electrical science, the inertia of matter has been explained 

 by the properties of moving electrons, and Faraday had already felt the identity of chemical 

 and electrical energy. It seems, then, somewhat retrograde to assume a new form of energy, 

 especially as there is no urgent necessity for it. The resources of the known forms of energy 

 are not altogether exhausted. 



