MOTION IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 



71 



with the oxygen produces the temperature 

 proper to the animal organism. 



The production of heat and the change 

 of matter are closely related to each other : 

 but although heat can be produced in the 

 body without any change of matter in living 

 tissues, yet the change of matter cannot be 

 supposed to take place without the co-opera- 

 tion of oxygen. 



According to all the observations hitherto 

 made, neither the expired air nor the per- 

 spiration, nor the urine, contains any trace 

 of alcohol, after indulgence in spirituous 

 liquors ; and there can be no doubt that the 

 elements of alcohol combine with oxygen 

 in the body; that its carbon and hydrogen 

 are given off as carbonic acid and water. 



The oxygen which has accomplished this 

 change must have been taken from the arte- 

 rial blood; for we know of no channel, 

 save the circulation of the blood, by which 

 oxygen can penetrate into the interior of the 

 body. 



Owing to its volatility, and the ease with 

 which its vapour permeates animal mem- 

 branes and tissues, alcohol can spread 

 throughout the body in all directions. 



If the power of the elements of alcohol 

 to combine with oxygen were not greater 

 than that of the compounds formed by the 

 change of matter, or that of the substance 

 of living tissues, they (the elements of alco- 

 hol) could not combine with oxygen in the 

 body. t 



It is, consequently, obvious, that by the 

 use of alcohol a limit must rapidly be put 

 to the change of matter in certain parts of 

 the body. The oxygen of the arterial 

 blood, which, in the absence of alcohol, 

 would have combined with the matter of 

 the tissues, or with that formed by the meta- 

 morphosis of these tissues, now combines 

 with the elements of alcohol. The arterial 

 blood becomes venous, without the substance 

 of the muscles having taken any share in 

 the transformation. 



Now we observe, that the developement 

 of heat in the body, after the use of wine, 

 increases rather than diminishes, without 

 the manifestation of a corresponding amount 

 of mechanical force. 



A moderate quantity of wine, in women 

 and children unaccustomed to its use, pro- 

 duces, on the contrary, a diminution of the 

 force necessary for voluntary motions. 

 Weariness, feebleness in the limbs, and 

 drowsiness, plainly show that the force 

 available for mechanical purposes, in other 

 words, the change of matter, has been di- 

 minished. 



A diminution of the conducting power 

 of the nerves of voluntary motion may 

 dc jbtless take a certain share in producing 

 these symptoms; but this must be alto- 

 gether without influence on the sum of 

 available force. 



What the conductors of voluntary motion 

 cannot carry away for effects of force, must 

 be taken up by the nerves of involuntary 



motion, and conveyed to the heart, lungs, 

 and intestines. In this case, the circulation 

 will appear accelerated at the expense of 

 the force available for voluntary motion j 

 but, as was before remarked, without the 

 production of a greater amount of mechani- 

 cal force by the process of oxidation of the 

 alcohol. 



Finally, we observe, in hybernating ani- 

 mals, that, during their winter sleep, the 

 capacity of increase in mass (one of the 

 chief manifestations of the vital force,) 

 owing to the absence of food, is entirely 

 suppressed. In several, apparent death oc- 

 curs in consequence of the low temperature 

 and of the diminution qf vital energy thus 

 produced ; in others, the involuntary mo- 

 tions continue, and the animal preserves a 

 temperature independent of the surrounding 

 temperature. The respirations go on ; oxy- 

 gen, the condition which determines the 

 production of heat and force, is absorbed 

 now as well as in the former state of the 

 animal; and previous to the winter sleep, 

 we find all those parts of their body, which 

 in themselves are unable to furnish resist- 

 ance to the action of the oxygen, and which, 

 like the intestines and membranes, are not 

 destined for the change of matter, covered 

 with fat; that is, surrounded by a substance 

 which supplies the want of resistance. 



If we now suppose, that the oxygen ab- 

 sorbed during the winter sleep combines, 

 not with the elements of living tissues, but 

 with those of the fat, then the living part, 

 although a certain momentum of motion be 

 expended in keeping up the circulation, will 

 not be separated and expelled from the body. 



With the return of the higher tempera- 

 ture, the capacity of growth increases in the 

 same ratio, and the motion of the blood in- 

 creases with the absorption of oxygen. 

 Many of these animals become emaciated 

 during the winter sleep, others not till after 

 awaking from it. 



In hybernating animals the active force 

 of the living parts is exclusively devoted, 

 during hybernation, to the support of the in- 

 voluntary motions. The expenditure of force 

 in voluntary motion is entirely suppressed. 



In contradistinction to these phenomena, 

 we know that, in the case of excess of mo- 

 tion and exertion, the active force in living 

 parts may be exclusively and entirely con- 

 sumed in producing voluntary mechanical 

 effects; in such wise that no force shall re- 

 main available for the involuntary motions. 

 A stag may be hunted to death ; but this 

 cannot occur without the metamorphosis of 

 all the living parts of its muscular system, 

 and its flesh becomes uneatable. The con- 

 dition of metamorphosis into which it has 

 been brought by an enormous consumption 

 both of force and of oxygen continues when 

 all phenomena of motion have ceased. In 

 the living tissues, all the resistance offered 

 by the vital force to external agencies of 

 change is entirely destroyed. 



But however closely the conditions of the 



