THE ACTIVE FORCES OF LIVING ORGANISMS 87 



from a condition of constant loss, since in fevers the 

 breaking down of tissue exceeds the building up to 

 one of equilibrium, and eventually to one of gain ; 

 indeed, the change of rhythm is sometimes of so 

 decided a character that a person may become very 

 much stronger a little time after an illness than 

 before the attack. We therefore see that a certain 

 degree of contraction in the nervous rhythm is abso- 

 lutely essential to anabolism, for contraction in this 

 case is synonymous with attraction. We can very 

 easily bring about a certain degree of contraction in 

 the nerve-cells by the simple application in one form 

 or another of cold to part or to the whole of the skin, 

 and this is a point of great importance. But it is 

 not all, for in so doing we run a risk of producing a 

 marked tendency towards stagnation. We pass from 

 a state of excessive metabolic action to one of in- 

 sufficient action. The nervous metabolic rhythm, 

 after having been on the side of excessive expan- 

 sion, reverts to that of excessive contraction, and 

 the body, after having expended its forces in riotous 

 living, is suddenly pinched and starved like that of 

 the prodigal. In the hyper - contracted state the 

 nerve-cell does not possess that amount of mobility 

 which is essential to the maintenance of vital energy 

 at its maximum. On the other hand, if the nerve- 

 cells be allowed to fall back into a rhythm oharaiO- 

 terized by too great expansion,, there will be a loss; 

 both of energy and, a perhaps more important matter, 

 of actual material o^ ti.^u,e, Th^; gen^i:a,l aiim, in, 



