Feb. i;, 1 887 J 



NA TURE 



367 



found in (he compound formed by their union ; therefore the 

 result of their combining together must be a loss of energy : the 

 value of this energy is estimated by the heat evolved. The heat 

 recognisable on the combination of 4500 grains of carbon with the 

 required cnuivalcnt of oxygen amounts to u8 units, and repre- 

 sents in footpounds the raising of 40 tons one foot high. 



Such, then, is the enormous supply of solar energy obtained ly 

 a man when he compels the elementary atoms of carbon and 

 oxygen to enter into a combination of greater ?tabilily and less 

 energy, and to surrender their surplus energy that he may live. 



Hut the converse of this is also true, viz. that when a plant 

 proceeds to utilise this carbonic acid for the reproduction of 

 4500 grains of carbon, it can do so only by obtaining from some 

 external source energy equivalent to the raising of 40 tons one 

 foot high and adding this to the rates of vibration already exist- 

 ing in the carbonic acid. 1 bus the condition of energy of the 

 carbonic acid is altered till finally the oxygen and carbon atoms 

 are compelled to dissociate themselves and to resume their ele- 

 mentary forms of less stability and greater energy. They then 

 become available for plant assimilation, and fix in its tissues the 

 energy which forced them apart. 



If, then, the union of oxygen and carbon in the human body 

 sacrifices such energy that man can live thereby, is it not obvious 

 that under whatever circumstances that union takes place the 

 same energy mu-t appear ? If that be so, the question must arise 

 whether in estimating the eflfect of vegetable decomposition upon 

 the health of man too much notice has not heretofore been taken 

 of the carbonic acid and kindred stable products given out, and 

 too little attention paid to the energy evolved, — in fact, whether 

 from the surface of every seething swamp there be not poured 

 forth streams of that powerful energy which originally fed the 

 growing plants, and which when eliminated within the body of 

 man is known by the name of Life. To assume that such energy 

 is powerless is to assert that the mother's heat is not the force 

 that hatches out the egg. 



That the theory which attributed all noxious influence to the 

 gaseous resultants of decomposition did not satisfy the require- 

 ments of science is show n by the greedy acceptance of the germ 

 theory which now prevails. But this, after all, is but coming one 

 step nearer to the action of that universal energy which is the 

 inseparable concomitant of all material interchange. For has 

 not Dr. liurdon Sanderson well said, " Bacterial life is a middle 

 term between chemical antecedents and consequents " ? They 

 reduce all unstable compounds in the world to linal stable 

 products, and live with vigour or in apathy in proportion to the 

 effect upon themselves of the energy evolved from i he medium 

 they destroy. Thus, too, is produced much of that form of 

 secondary energy recognised as heat of decomposition, and while 

 this heat is known to possess marvellous influence over vegetable 

 gcrmin.ation it has up to the present been credited with but little 

 action on the life of man. 



The gaseous consequents and the bacterial agents have borne 

 the blame of every human ill, while that energy which ruled the 

 universe before the first vegetable cell had varied towards 

 animal functions is allowed to go unchallenged. 



If, then, suspicion can be legitimately directed towards this heat 

 as a factor in physiological change hitherto overlooked, it be- 

 comes necessary to pursue the subject of heat in all its latest 

 developments. 



Dr. Doherty, in his "Organic Philosophy," says : "Light is 

 nothing but the velfciy of a force which in slow motion i- called 

 he.at." From the facts that are known in relation to light it may 

 b; possible to deduce by analogy much that is yet unproven with 

 regard to heat. 



It h.as been shown that light consists of certain colours which, 

 when taken together, produce the sensation of light ; each of 

 these c lours acts upon certain specialised molecules of the optic 

 nerve and not upon the remainder, just as Professor Tyndall has 

 shown that the invisible heat rays, "powerful as they are, and 

 sufficient to fuse many metals, can be permitted to enter the eye 

 and to break upon the retina without producing the least 

 luminous impression." 



M.ay it not therefore be inferred that heat consists of a series 

 of velocities of force which when taken together produce the 

 sensation of heat, yet each of w hich is capable of acting upon 

 certain specialised molecules of the nerves of sensation, while 

 being unperceived by the remainder? 



Light has been proved by Captain .'Vbney to be the visible 

 velocities of wave-lengths from 38,000 to the inch to 60,000, and 

 within this range from 38,000 to 60,000 to the inch all the varied 



sensations of colour are produced ; nevertheless, by the higher 

 velocities, from 60,000 to 120,000 wave-lengths to the inch, the 

 great chemical actions of the world are performed. Is it not 

 evident, then, that if the recognition of wave-lengths from 38,000 

 to the inch and upwards depended solely upon the subjective 

 sensation of light all appreciation of them must cease at the 

 60,000 wave-lengths, and that the great powers of the ultra-violet 

 wave-lengths must have remained in darkness for ever? 



But Captain Abncy has also shown th.-it there are measurable 

 wavelengths extending downwards from 38,000 to io,ooo to the 

 inch ; if, therefore, these are credited with such action only as is 

 recognisable by the subjective sensation of heat, is it not equally 

 possible that powerful influences which change for good or ill 

 the configuration of the molecules of the nerves of sensation may 

 be left unregistered ? 



It is therefore allowable to infer from this analogy that in the 

 dark region descending from the fading red to the cold of zero 

 there m.iy be many rates of velocity, some of which, harmonising 

 with some ph.ase of life, produce the mo-t potent physiological 

 eflfects without at the same time exciting the molecular resistance 

 which corresponds to the sensation of heat. 



In other words, is it not probable that in estimating the ac- 

 tions of the forces of Nature upon the animal system some most 

 subtle influences have been overlooked because unrecorded by 

 the index of the thermometer ? 



Profes: or Tait says : "The energy of vibrational radiations is 

 a transformatiun of the heat of a hot body, and can be again 

 frittered down into heat, but in the interval of its passage through 

 space devoid of tangible matter, or even while passing unabsorbed 

 throni^h tangible' matter, it is not necessarVy heat.'' And Mr. 

 Pattison Muirinhis work on "Thermal Chemistry "asks : " Must 

 all energy which is lost by a changing chemical system during a 

 definite operation make its appearance in the form of heat ? 

 Energy appears in chemical operations in forms other than 

 that of heat, electrical energy for instance ; we must distinguish 

 in chemical processes between that part of chemical energy which 

 is freely changeable into other forms, and that which can leave 

 the system only in the form of heat." 



The most recent researches thus point to the probability that 

 while the bacterium carries on through Nature its never-ending 

 work of reducing chemical antecedents to chemical consequents 

 it must as continuously set free energy in forms other than that 

 of heat. 



One of the most pregnant discoveries made of late is that 

 which demonstrates that, even in the case of the powerful 

 friction requisite for boring iron, heat ceases to be recognisable 

 as heat when the iron operated on is strongly magnetised ; that 

 is, that heat developed by friction in a magnetic field disappears 

 in some form other than heat. By this the idea is suggested 

 that heat energy impinging upon the sentient extremity of a 

 nerve in action may be taken up and carried in a form other thaii 

 heat to the central brain, just as sound . is conveyed in a form 

 other than sound across the interval between the telephone and 

 the receiver ; and if the multiple wave-lengths which produce 

 the subjective sens;ation of heat can be thus transferred from the 

 surface to the centre, why not fractions of that multiple which 

 when taken together make the whole ? 



Since, then, science cannot specify the difference between the 

 energy contained in dead carbonic acid and that of the living 

 hydrocarbon, neither can it draw a Hne more definite than the 

 equator between those series of decompositions which on the one 

 side are termed life, and on the other are designated death. In 

 each and all the compound descends from instability towards 

 stability, and in every degradation is energy evolved. 



Yet that energy, no matter in what companionship it may be 

 found, or through how many existences it may have trans- 

 migrated, has still bvit one original source, and consequently it is 

 impossible to conceive a condition in which that energy, pri- 

 marily possessed of such "phenomenal modes of action," can 

 be regarded as absolutely inert. 



So far, then, it is claimed that grounds have been established 

 for asserting that from the surface (.f every decomposing swamp 

 forms of energy must be momentarily poured forth, the potency 

 of which is as yet unknown. 



.\gain, while it is at present impossible to isolate the fractions 

 of energy the sum of which make heat, still it would contribuii; 

 vastly to the proof of their independent existence if it could be 

 shown that the nerves of sensation are specialised in. section', 

 each reacting separately, to different gradations of hea*. 



This has been apparently accomplished. 



