116 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIFE 



have preferred the law of functional destruction. This will 

 have it that every tissue that works destroys itself, to 

 assimilate afterwards in repose. It is clear that Claude 

 Bernard laid down such a law a priori and without mature 

 reflection ; it renders incomprehensible the law of habit 

 and the adaptation of the organ to the function. 



