34 THE ACTIVE FORCES OF LIVING ORGANISMS 



lead to gratifying results. Diminished oxidation, 

 however, though frequently due to excessive con- 

 traction of the nerve-cells, may also be caused by the 

 opposite tendency, especially when this laxness is of 

 such a degree as to produce considerable decrease in 

 blood-pressure. There are cases in which the nerve- 

 cells vibrate sometimes in a too contracted state, and 

 sometimes in a condition of too great expansion. 

 When the hyper-contracted state is habitual, it will 

 by degrees lead to diminished oxidation to such an 

 extent as to interfere with the due nutrition of the 

 tissues and thus indirectly bring about dilatation of 

 the arteries by weakening the muscular coats. In all 

 this, the habitual mode of vibration of the molecules 

 of the nerve-cells is the factor, to obtain control of 

 which should be the aim of treatment. Apart, how- 

 ever, from the use of drugs, reaction must be regarded 

 as a normal and natural event, for well-nigh all parts 

 of the human organism are subject to variations of 

 oxidation and of contraction, which are the primary 

 factors in all physiological action. 

 Some The tissues of every living organism may be said 



metabo- to consist, finally, like other substances, of molecules 



lism. 



and atoms ; whilst surrounding these, and permeating 

 the whole is, we have reason to suppose, the ether. 

 In the manifold processes of oxidation which occur 

 both during functional activity and in a state of 

 repose, the molecules break down and are built up, 

 and this fact implies the existence of certain forces 

 by which these events are caused and controlled. 



