44 



THE ANIMAL AS A MACHINE. 



in the animal system are not, in the accepted sense, 

 thermo-dynamic. They must involve as yet unknown 

 processes and methods, and must be free from the 

 control of thermodynamic principles, as we are accus- 

 tomed to denominate them. The "second law of 

 thermo-dynamics " is here evaded. 



In those cases in which work was done, the produc- 

 duction of heat was as much less than that anticipated, 

 as computed from the engineers' and the physicists' 

 experiments, as, in the case of rest, that figure was 

 exceeded, falling in the latter case to from 2.5 calories 

 to 3.5 per gramme, varying with the individual and his 

 famiharity with the work, and consequent efificiency as 

 a machine. 



Thus the investigator shows that while the animal 

 system is unquestionably a machine producing and 

 utilizing energy by transformation, it possesses some 

 peculiarities and conceals some secrets that science 

 has still to discover through exact methods of research. 

 It further has become evident that these methods of 

 production and utilization of energy include some 

 which are very different from those familiar to us, as 

 exhibited in our inanimate heat-engines, and which, 

 once discovered and given appHcation, should that 

 prove practicable in artificial machines of this class, 

 will probably prove enormously advantageous in the 

 saving of costly energies now so largely wasted. Could 

 we discover and apply these methods in displacing our 

 heat-engines, it would give us direct transformations of 

 energy into work at low temperatures, with little or no 

 wastes, and thus enormously extend the period of 

 human life on this globe, as well as its productiveness. 

 It will be an interesting question for the electrician 



