98-(68) PHYSIOLOGICAL SIG-KIFICAIS'CE OF VITAL FORCE, 



ized bodies, has its mechanical equivalent and follows an 

 orderly sequence of events. 



The nutrition of the body, through all the intricate pro- 

 cesses of external and internal digestion under the action 

 of the digestive ferments, involves only physical and 

 chemical laws in the transformation of the various foods 

 received. The entire animal body is composed of modi- 

 tied protoplasm, as represented in the three classes known 

 as proteids, carbohydrates and fats, with their respective 

 dei natives. 



The proteids are exceedingly complex in character and 

 are not as yet definitely classified among organic com- 

 pounds. They unite with acids and alkalies, and yet ; 'do 

 not play the part of an acid towards the ba'se " orconverse- 

 ly. They are not crystallizable and, having no combining 

 equivalent, do not possess an absolute ultimate constitu- 

 tion, and, therefore, their molecular reactions and changes 

 in the body can not be expressed by exact chemical sym- 

 bols. 



Ileiv then we sec the formidable list of "proximate 

 principles" that are known to belong to the animal body 

 as nutrient elements, and which are necessary for tissue 

 development. They are all organic compounds, from 

 which science has "banished the vital force" by "prov- 

 ing them to be subject to the same physical and chemical 

 forces which determine the composition of universal mat- 

 ter. " Where then shall we seek this "indefinable 

 something" which exists and acts in the organism 

 independent of and antagonistic to the physical and 

 chemical forces of nature, as affirmed by the doctrines 

 of ••vitalism" taught by Stahl and Bichat. 



The position held by these distinguished men and their 

 followers has been demonstrated to be untrue, because, 

 whatever may be the essential nature of this vital force, 

 certain ii is that it is known only by and through its 

 manifestations. These present themselves to the mind 

 only through organizations, which immediately depend 

 on chemical and physical forces for those proximate prin- 

 ciples which go to nourish and build up the tissues and 

 enable the organs of the body, whether muscular or 

 nervous, to perform their respective functions. 



In nutrient action, by which lifeless material or pabu- 

 lum is transformed into living tissues, evidence of this 



