IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 187 



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 at- 

 traction, 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 composition 

 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 anal- 

 ogous changes. 



The vital force is manifested in the form of resis- 

 tance, inasmuch as by its presence in the living tissues, 

 their elements acquire the power of withstanding the 

 disturbance and change in their form and composition, 

 which external agencies tend to produce ; a power 

 which, simply as chemical compounds, they do not 

 possess. 



As in the case of other forces, the conception of an 

 unequal intensity of the vital force comprehends not 

 only an unequal capacity for growth in the mass, and an 

 unequal power of overcoming chemical resistance, but 

 also an inequality in the amount of that resistance which 



