8o PHYSIOLOGY; ITS SCOPE AND METHOD 



a space of time which is almost less than a moment com- 

 pared with the cosmic period through which that stream 

 in its relentless descent towards dissipation must run 

 ere it reach the zero of the equilibrium that shall be 

 final. In that eddy the energy is diverted to a course 

 which taken in its totality has no terrestrial parallel. And 

 each such eddy, though of brief existence, throws off from 

 itself and apparently this is one of its main * purposes ' 

 the beginnings of other eddies like to, but not identical 

 with, itself. We can see that Physiology must, in order 

 to study the properties of these eddies, be an eclectic 

 study, borrowing her knowledge and her methods from 

 many cognate studies. * It can be said of her that she 

 has no methods of her own, or that all methods are 

 hers : either expression is true. What is hers and hers 

 alone is the scope of her problem, namely, the riddle of 

 how the living organism lives. ? 



