252 INDUCTION OF 



intensity of chemical action, not varying much from 

 that which attends the normal activity of the tissues, 

 will maintain the vital process. 



There are some facts which, upon a cursory view, 

 might give the impression that the growth of living 

 organisms is the cause rather than the effect of 

 chemical action or decomposition. The production 

 of fermentation by yeast is an example. 



The true meaning of these facts appears at once 

 upon a reference to the inorganic world. 



The completion of the circuit in a galvanic battery 

 may occasion, and always increases, the chemical 

 action. When the uniting wire is small and becomes 

 heated by the current, the chemical action takes 

 place more freely in proportion to the readiness with 

 which the heat of the wire can be dissipated. Or, 

 more simply, if two weights be suspended over a 

 pulley, the more easily the one is made to ascend, 

 the more readily and rapidly will the other descend. 



The presence of living matter facilitates decay, by 

 affording a ready passage, as it were, to the resulting 

 action. Life bears the same relation to decomposi- 

 tion that the galvanic current bears to the union of 



