74 THE DATA OF BIOLOGY. 



Hence the hypothesis implies that, time after time, the un- 

 stable nitrogenous part overthrows the stable carbo-hydrate 

 part, without being itself overthrown. This conclusion, to 

 say the least of it, does not appear very probable. 



The alternative hypothesis, indirectly supported as we saw 

 by proofs that outside the body small amounts of change in 

 nitrogenous compounds initiate large amounts of change 

 in carbonaceous compounds, may in the first place be here 

 supported by some further indirect evidences of kindred 

 natures. A haystack prematurely put together supplies one. 

 Enough water having been left in the hay to permit chemical 

 action, the decomposing proteids forming the dead proto- 

 plasm in each cell, set up decomposition of the carbo-hydrates 

 with accompanying oxidation of the carbon and genesis of 

 heat; even to the extent of producing fire. Again, as shown 

 above, this relation between these two classes of compounds 

 is exemplified in the alimentary canal; where, alike in the 

 saliva and in the pancreatic secretion, minute quantities of 

 unstable nitrogenous bodies transform great quantities of 

 stable carbo-hydrates. Thus we find indirect reinforcements 

 of the belief that the katabolic change generating muscular 

 energy is one in which a large decomposition of a carbo- 

 hydrate is set up by a small decomposition of a proteid.* 



§ 23/. A certain general trait of animal organization may 

 fitly be named because its relevance, though still more in- 

 direct, is very significant. Under one of its aspects an 

 animal is an apparatus for the multiplication of energies — a 

 set of appliances by means of which a minute amount of 

 motion initiates a larger amount of motion, and this again a 

 still larger amount. There are structures which do this 

 mechanically and others which do it chemically. 



* This iuterpretation is said to bo disproved by the fact that the carbo- 

 hydrate contained in muscle amounts to only about 1.5 of the total solids. I 

 do not see how this statement is to be reconciled with the statement cited 

 three pages back from Professor Michael Foster, that the deposits of glyco- 

 gen contained in the liver and in the muscles may be compared to the deposits 

 in a central bank and branch banks. 



