\ 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



at 



i 



5 SO far 



n thirt 



as 



y years 



F 



causing the 

 conversioi 



lis 



■tervention of 



of oxidation 



place by the 



- action is \i 



al in nature' 



dr discharged 



,de, show 

 of alcohol is 

 irt taken bj 



igus is a continiia 



used _ 



ngs are gra^' 



f air is prev*^ 



al inst'^ 



ment is 



lecessaO 



, cone"''' 



.tion 



the 



The ac* 



vinegaf-P 



of 



:he ^ 



the 



m 



fluence 



oi 



in 



this 



way y 



east 



(Se 



gpoiic 



bet 



411 



? 



Baron Liebig 



the vinegar plant in the process is that of determining 

 the absorption of oxygen ; it is active only in virtue of 

 this chemical property, and it can be replaced by a 

 large number of dead materials or parts of plants/ 



Again, in a continuous series of chemical changes, 

 why should an arbitrary division be made ? Why should 

 some changes, which are admitted to be ^ spontaneous,' 

 be artificially separated from others, when these latter 

 follow in an uninterrupted sequence r 

 says ^ : — ^ From the moment that a piece of muscle is 

 separated from the living body it begins to undergo 

 alteration , after some hours it acquires an alkaline 

 reaction- the coagulable substances are coagulated, the 

 contents of the muscular tubes become more solid and 

 acquire a clouded appearance, with a thickish consist- 



The muscle contracts and thickens, or rigor 

 morth takes place • then, after some time, the stiffness 

 ceases, the acidity augments, and offensively-smelling 



products make their appearance If organized 



ferments have nothing to do with the formation of the 



F 



first products that appear in the muscles up to the 

 occurrence of rigor morth — and I believe there is no 

 physiologist who thinks they have — then it is difficult 

 to understand how the further alterations can be de- 

 termined by them/ 



The transformation of starch into glucose by 

 the agency of sulphuric acid, to which we have 

 already referred, is a process that cannot logically be 



^ Loc. cit., p. 123. 



ence. 



I 



