CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



Vital force, vis vitse, or vitality page 1 



Distinction between animal and vegetable life 2 



Assimilation the result of chemical forces ... ... ... 4 



Vitality independent of consciousness ... ... ... 6 



Laws of the vital force ... ... ... ... ... 8 



Conditions of animal life ... ... ... ... ... 9 



Nutrition depends on chemical changes 11 



Amount of oxygen inspired by an adult man 12 



It combines with carbon and hydrogen in the body ... 13 



The consumption of oxygen varies 15 



Effect of heat on these variations 16 



The mutual action of oxygen and carbon in the body is the 



true source of animal heat 17 



The amount of oxygen regulates that of food 20 



Effects of climate on the appetite 23 



The process of starvation 25 



Cause of death in starvation and chronic diseases ... ... 27 



Nerves and muscles not the source of animal body ... 29 



Amount of animal heat 34 



Nervous and vegetative life .38 



Nutrition depends on the constituents of blood 40 



Identity of organic composition in fibrine and albumen ... 41 



Nutrition in the carnivora the most simple 44 



In the herbivora, depends on the azotised products of vege- 

 tables ... .45 



