18 THE FITNESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT 



what we have ever observed. But, however 

 interesting and important such processes may 

 be, it is not to be supposed that they are of 

 direct moment in physiological processes. 

 These conditions are far beyond the limits 

 of our present investigation. Accordingly, 

 everything that observation has taught con- 

 firms the belief that energy, like matter, is 

 in general well known to us. Its manifesta- 

 tions are few, and they are universal. But 

 just as the generalizations of science yield 

 further assurance regarding matter, so they 

 do not fail to confirm our conclusions in the 

 study of energy. The law of the conserva- 

 tion of energy and the law of the degradation 

 of energy, otherwise known as the first and 

 second laws of thermodynamics, clearly in- 

 dicate that the manifestations of energy are 

 not accidental nor independent of one an- 

 other. They are orderly, and they obey laws. 

 Energy is one and indestructible. 



Such are the apparently irrefragable con- 

 clusions of the brief half century of creative 

 development, from the time when Young 

 first used the word "energy" and Bolton and 

 Watt first employed the idea of measuring 

 energy in horse power, through the period of 

 Carnot's brilliant intuition regarding the re- 

 lation between heat and work, to the epoch 



