356 Correlation of Carbon Chemistry with Vital Phenomena. 



residue — the authors, adopting the statistical method of exclu- 

 sive separation, arrived at length at the substance in question 

 — a body which Foster*, in quoting their work, terms a form 

 of cellulose. This substance was found to differ from cellulose, 

 on the result of an aggregate elementary analysis, by a some- 

 what higher carbon percentage, such as, according to the 

 reasoning of these authors, would be due to the presence of a 

 body of the composition of quinic acid; and this they regard 

 as a constituent of this substance, and as converted, during 

 the process of digestion, into hippuric acid. Pushing then 

 the statistical method of inquiry beyond its limits, and evi- 

 dently for the purpose of confirming a priori views, the authors 

 appear to us to have missed the most important development 

 of their otherwise valuable work. Had they examined the 

 " form of cellulose " at which they arrived by a direct method 

 of proximate resolution, they would have obtained the aromatic 

 substances, allied to the astringents and phenols, which we have 

 obtained from lignified fibres. That they are digested by the 

 Herbivora has been established by numerous observers'! - ; that 

 they are the source of the benzoic residue necessary to form 

 hippuric acid is a priori very probable : in fact it must be 

 regarded as first in the order of the probabilities to be inves- 

 tigated. As such, indeed, it is occupying our attention ; and 

 whatever be the result it will be more valuable, because more 

 definite, than any conclusion arrived at by means of the in- 

 direct method. 



We refrain from extending our discussion of these subjects 

 in anticipation of the more detailed publication of our re- 

 searches. We think we have shown grounds for our state- 

 ment that there is a general want of correlation of chemical 

 with biological research, especially in the hesitation on the 

 part of chemists to adopt, as working hypotheses, the wider- 

 reaching conclusions of physiologists as to the natural origin 

 and history of the carbon compounds. We have also endea- 

 voured to show that, while our conception of the vital force 

 has been modified so as to have entirely lost the significance 

 that belonged to it in a previous age, we have no ground for 

 dismissing it for the alternative view of life as immanent in 

 the universe of matter and force. We have expunged an error 

 that was partial, and are in danger of generalizing the nega- 

 tive by which it needed to be met. 



Postscript. — Since writing the above, our researches have 



* Die Hippursaure (Hannover, 1866) ; ' Text-book of Physiology,' 2nd 

 edit. p. 364. Cf. YVeiske, Zeitschr. Biol. xii. p. 241. 



t Weende, Berichte. 



