IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 197 



stituents of food arrange themselves in another 

 form, and combine to produce new compounds, 

 either identical in composition with the living 

 tissues, or differing from them ; it further changes 

 the direction and force of the attraction of co- 

 hesion, destroys the cohesion of the nutritious com- 

 pounds, and forces the new compounds to assume 

 forms altogether different from those which are the 

 result of the attraction of cohesion when acting 

 freely, that is, without resistance. 



The vital force is also manifested as a force of 

 attraction, inasmuch as the new compound produced 

 by the change of form and structure in the food, 

 when it has a composition identical with that of the 

 living tissue, becomes a part of that tissue. 



Those newly-formed compounds, whose compo- 

 sition differs from that of the living tissue, are 

 removed from the situation in which they are 

 formed, and, in the shape of certain secretions, 

 being carried to other parts of the body, undergo 

 in contact with these a series of analogous changes. 



The vital force is manifested in the form of 

 resistance, inasmuch as by its presence in the living 

 tissues, their elements acquire the power of with- 

 standing the disturbance and change in their form 

 and composition, which external agencies tend to 

 produce ; a power which, simply as chemical com- 

 pounds, they do not possess. 



As in the case of other forces, the conception of 

 an unequal intensity of the vital force comprehends 



