Conceptions of Assimilation Reviewed 339 



in this descent the chemical energy which it enclosed 

 within it in the potential state." 



"Every act which gives out energy, which produces 

 heat, or movement, every manifestation whatever, which 

 can be regarded as a transformation of energy, neces- 

 sarily consumes energy, and this is borrowed from the 

 substances of the organism. The functioning muscle 

 produces heat and movement, the functioning of glands 

 produces heat, the functioning of nerve and brain pro- 

 duces a small quantity of electricity and heat. All these 

 manifestations of energy rest upon a destruction of 

 organic matter, a chemical simplification as the source 

 of the energy manifested. In this way material de- 

 struction not only coincides with functional activity but 

 is the measure and the expression of it." 



"The reconstructive synthesis of protoplasm is on 

 the contrary a phenomenon of evident synthesis, of a 

 certain chemical increase of complexity. Its formation at 

 the expense of simpler nutritive materials requires then 

 an appreciable quantity of energy." 



"The phenomena of living beings," continues this 

 author, "may be divided into two categories. Some are 

 intermittent, alternative, and are produced or accentu- 

 ated at certain times but cannot be continuous. These 

 are functional processes. There are others in which 

 this property of sudden and intermittent expenditure of 

 energy does not appear at all. They are in general 

 nutritive processes. The muscle which contracts, func- 

 tions. It has an activity and a repose. During this ap- 

 parent repose one could not say that it is dead. It has 

 life and this is here obscure in comparison with the 

 manifest activity of the functional movement." 



"The phenomena of functional activity are those 



