THE BREATH OF LIFE 



blood. Here, the ordinary physical forces fail him, 

 and living matter comes to his aid. The inner wall 

 of the intestine is not a lifeless membrane, and os- 

 mosis will not solve the mystery. There is some- 

 tliing there that seizes hold of the droplets of oil by 

 means of little extruded processes, and then passes 

 them through its own body to excrete them on an 

 inner surface into the blood-vessels. "This fat ab~ 

 sorption thus appears to be a vital process and not 

 one simply controlled by physical forces like os- 

 mosis. Here our explanation runs against what we 

 call 'vital power' of the ultimate elements of the 

 body." Professor Conn next analyzes the processes 

 of circulation, and his ready-made mechanical con- 

 cepts carry him along swimmingly, till he tries to 

 explain by them the beating of the heart, and the 

 contraction of the small blood-vessels which regu- 

 late the blood-supply. Here comes in play the mys- 

 terious vital power again. He comes upon the 

 same power when he tries to determine what it is 

 that enables the muscle-fibre to take from the lymph 

 the material needed for its use, and to discard the 

 rest. The fibre acts as if it knew what it wanted — 

 a very unmechanical attribute. 



Then Professor Conn applies his mechanics and 

 chemistry to the respiratory process and, of course, 

 makes out a very clear case till he comes to the re- 

 moval of the waste, or ash. The steam-engine can- 

 not remove its own ash; the "living machine" can. 



92 



