TA 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



INTRODUCTION 



1 



BOOK THE FIEST. 



FORCES AND ORGANS. 



CHAPTER I. 



OF FORCES IN THE INORGANIC KINGDOM AND AMONG 



Matter reveals itself by its properties — When matter acts, we con- 

 clude that forces exist — Multiplicity of the forces formerly 

 admitted ; tendency to their reduction to one force in the inor- 

 ganic kingdom — Indestructibility of force ; its transformations 

 — Vital forces, their multiplicity according to the ancient 

 physiologists — Several vital forces are reduced to physical 

 forces — Of laws in physics and in physiology — General theory 

 of physical forces 5 



To prove the indestructibility of forces, we must know how to 

 measure them — Units of heat and of mechanical work — Ther- 

 mo-dynamics — Measure of forces in living beings — Successive 

 phases of the transformation of bodies ; successive development 

 of force under this influence — Thermo-dynamics applied to 

 living beings 13 



Origin of animal heat— Lavoisier *s theory— The perfecting of this 

 theory — Estimates of the forces contained in aliment, and in 

 the secreted products — Difficulty of these estimates — The force 



ORGANISED BEINGS. 



CHAPTER n. 



TRANSFORMATION OF PHYSICAL FORCES. 



CHAPTER ni. 



ON ANIMAL HEAT. 



