PREFACE 



THIS book deals intensively with certain of the properties of living 

 matter. 



It is not meant to be a general textbook on the subject, but to 

 give some prospect of the origin and reactions and balances of 

 living matter. 



Textbooks by the score already exist describing the details of 

 the anatomy, so to speak, of living matter, but few treatises 

 deal in a fundamental manner with the physiology, or work, of 

 live things. 



In all chemistry, and, indeed, in all biology, there exist these 

 two sides, the structural and the functional, the anatomical and 

 the physiological. 



The two aspects cannot by any means be divorced, for structure 

 and function go hand in hand, and variations in structure precede 

 and are impelled by variations in function. So evolution of the 

 more complex from the more simple proceeded since first life 

 appeared in the world. 



It is, however, possible to decide for a school which branch it 

 intends to study; and since the majority of schools in this country 

 have chosen the anatomical side, to restore somewhat the balance, 

 the school of Biochemistry at Oxford will choose the functional side. 



The book is somewhat composite in character, but it is hoped 

 that it will gain rather than lose interest on that account. 



The two opening chapters were written before the experiments 

 detailed in the six following chapters were carried out. 



They have here been recorded as originally written, and the 

 thoughts expressed in them led to the succeeding experiments ; thus 

 there are placed on record the evolution and progress of a research. 



The experiments are described almost verbatim from the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society, and my th'anks are due to the Royal 

 Society for permission to reprint. 



This procedure has caused some repetition, but this may not 

 be found tiresome ; and as the book is intended for students 



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