CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR 23 
the repose of an organ, in fact, the cells are busily working 
in preparation for the manifestation of energetic action that 
is to follow. Just as the brilliant display of intellectual 
activity in a great orator is the result of the silent work of 
a lifetime, so is the physical manifestation of muscular power 
the result of the silent preparatory work of the muscle-cells. 
It may, perhaps, seem strange that the products of cellular 
life should be reached by the roundabout process of first 
producing unstable compounds, from which are then formed 
more stable substances, useful for permanent purposes as in 
bone, or temporary purposes as in the digestive fluids. It 
seems a waste of power to build up substances unnecessarily 
complex and stored with an unnecessarily abundant supply of 
energy. But only thus could the organs be enabled to act 
under the influence of stimuli, and afford examples of corporate 
behaviour. They are like charged batteries ready to discharge 
under the influence of the slightest organic touch. In this 
way, too, is afforded a means by which the organ is not 
dependent only upon the products of the immediate activity 
of the protoplasm at the time of action, but can utilize the 
store laid up during preceding periods of rest. 
Sufficient has now been said to illustrate the nature of 
some of the physical processes which accompany organic 
behaviour in its corporate aspect. The fact that should 
stand out clearly is that the animal body is stored with large 
quantities of available energy resident in highly complex and 
unstable chemical compounds, elaborated by the constituent 
cells. These unstable compounds, eminently explosive accord- 
ing to our analogy, are built up of materials derived from 
two different sources—from the nutritive matter (containing 
carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen) absorbed during digestion, 
and from oxygen taken up from the air during respiration. 
The cells thus become charged with energy that can be set 
free on the application of the appropriate stimulus, which may 
be likened to the spark that fires the explosive. 
Let us note, in conclusion, that it is through the blood- 
system, ramifying to all parts of the body, and the nerve- 
