i86 



THE ENERGY OF THE LIVING PROTOPLASM. 



amido-groups in the molecules of the active proteids, a conclu- 

 sion supported again by toxicological observations (cf. Chap. 

 Ill), and by the study of the active reserve albumen in plants (cf. 

 Chap. IV). The actions of this peculiar energy, so well adapted 

 for transmutation into chemical work, were characterised in 

 Chap. VI. 



It remains therefore only to explain how the intense and 

 ceaseless oscillations going on in the protoplasm can excite the 

 atoms in the sugar or fat ( " to such energetic motions that a 

 combination with oxygen will result. In this regard it will 

 suffice to point to the action of heat, which, at a certain tempera- 

 ture, will bring about the combustion of various compounds. (2) 

 The increased molecular motion passes partially into atomic 

 motion, rendering the atoms very labile, i.e., imparting to them 

 intense oscillations, whereby the chemical affinities originally 

 governing the molecules are loosened, leading to an increased 

 affinity for oxygen. As cohesion is loosened by heat, so the 

 atomic cohesion, i.e., the affinities in a molecule, are loosened by 

 plasmic energy ; in both cases atomic oscillations are inaugurat- 

 ed leading to combustion, with the main difference that plasmic 

 energy can accomplish its effect at a much lower temperature than 

 heat energy. When the wave impacts originating from the labile 

 atoms in the protoplasm have fallen upon the atoms of the res- 

 piratory fuel, and have led finally to motions of a certain intensity, 

 the act of combustion sets in with great vigour, not a previous, but 

 a simultaneous splitting up of the oxygen molecule taking place : 

 normal respiration. But if molecular oxygen is absent, then such 

 " activified " sugar molecules will undergo other changes, with 

 the production of fat, lactic acid, or alcohol ; these processes are 



(1) Fats as such can hardly serve for respiration, not being soluble in aqueous 

 fluids. It was therefore supposed that a previous saponification is necessary. It is 

 however, much more probable that a conversion of the neutral fats into lecithin takes 

 place, which swells up easily in water and is even a little soluble in it. Cf. O. Loew, 

 On the physiological functions of phosphoric acid, Biol. C. 11,270. 



(2) A previous " activifving " of the oxygen is here never noticed, for the small 

 amount of ozone formed by rapid combustion under certain circumstances is only a 

 by-product. Cf. O. Loeu', On the formation of ozone in rapid combustion, American 

 Journal of Science, Vol. 49. 



