ON THE VITALISTIC VIEW OF NATURE. 421 



" Energie-wechsel " 1 (a physical process). Bio-chemistry 

 had to be supplemented by bio-physics. With a clear 

 anticipation of the correcter and fuller view, Schwann 

 introduced the Greek term " metabole." It is the merit 

 of Prof. Michael Foster to have domiciled this useful 

 and all-comprising technical term in English physiological 



1 Du Bois-Reymond (' Reden,' 

 vol. ii. p. 220) mentions this as the 

 third important gain which phys- 

 iological science had to register 

 since the appearance of Miiller's 

 book ; the first and second being 

 the cellular theory and the mech- 

 anico-physical method, both largely 

 owing to Schwann. This was 

 written just before the great 

 influence of Darwin began to be 

 felt. In the ideas introduced by 

 Helmholtz, which clarified the con- 

 ception of force, he sees the "key 

 which opens a comprehension of 

 the ' Stofifwechsel ' in plants and 

 animals." The term " Stoff- 

 wechsel," also " Stoffumsatz," or 

 simply " Umsatz," has been quite 

 familiar in German physiological 

 literature during the whole of the 

 century. I cannot find any gener- 

 ally accepted term in English liter- 

 ature before the introduction of 

 Schwann's term " metabolic phen- 

 omena," which, I believe, was first 

 adopted by Sir M. Foster, and 

 is now quite domiciled in English 

 text-books and translations. The 

 passage in Schwann's ' Microscop- 

 ical Researches ' is as follows 

 (' Sydenham Society's Translation,' 

 p. 193): "The phenomena attend- 

 ing the formation of cells may be 

 arranged in two natural groups : 

 first, those which relate to the 

 combination of the molecules to 

 form a cell, and which may be 

 denominated the plastic phenom- 

 ena of the cells ; secondly, those 



which result from chemical changes, 

 either in the component particles 

 of the cell itself or in the sur- 

 rounding cytoblastema, and which 

 may be called metabolic phenomena 

 (rb nfTafto\tK6v, implying that 

 which is liable to occasion or to 

 suffer change)." It will be seen 

 later on that the term metabolism 

 is a peculiarly happy one, as it 

 lends itself by a slight change in 

 the prefix to denote the twofold 

 process of building up and of run- 

 ning or falling down, which con- 

 stitutes the changes peculiar to 

 protoplasm as the constituent 

 element of all organised substance. 

 It is, accordingly, somewhat sur- 

 prising that the term has found 

 so little favour abroad. In France, 

 where this twofold movement has 

 long ago been recognised as one 

 of the characters of the living 

 process, the terms " composition 

 et decomposition " (de Blainville), 

 " organisation et disorganisation " 

 (Claude Bernard), "assimilation et 

 desassimilation," have been variously 

 adopted (see Claude Bernard, 'Ph^n- 

 omenes de la vie,' vol. i. p. 36, 

 &c. ) M. Yves Delage (' L 'HeY&JiteV 

 p. 53) says : " Les Anglais ont sub- 

 stitue" a ces expressions si signi- 

 ficatives : nutrition, assimilation, 

 dtsassimilation, une terminologie 

 qui a du leur parattre bien belle, 

 car ils 1'ont tous adopte'e avec 

 un empressement remarquable ; 

 c'est celle de m^tabolisme," &c. 



