LIFE: ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE 47 
“somatic" life of the organism; and various 
tissues and organs die at different rates. The 
life of the body, therefore, is not the same 
thing as its conscious self-existence. 
Let us lead up to our main problem in anoth¬ 
er manner. The principle of the conservation 
of energy says that all force or energy can be 
converted into other energy, and that nothing 
is lost during this process of transformation. 
Heat may be converted into light, chemical en¬ 
ergy into heat, etc. All energies are thus 
transmuted, one into another, and it has been 
contended that life is only one special kind of 
energy, which results from the transformation 
of chemical, thermal, and other energies. The 
energy of the body is said to be derived more 
or less directly from the combustion of fuel 
(food) taken into it, and converted, in the 
body, into living bodily substance, heat, and 
energy. This energy is life-energy . Part of 
this life energy is expended in muscular activ¬ 
ities, part of it in running the internal mech¬ 
anism of the body, and part of it in nervous 
activities. Of these nervous activities one par¬ 
ticular variety is that expended in the process¬ 
es of thought. On this view, thought is said to 
be a particular type or kind of nervous energy, 
derived from other energies, and in turn ca¬ 
pable of being transmuted or re-transforme i 
into them. 
This view has been defended with consider¬ 
able ingenuity by Professor Ostwald, and oth 
ers, and, so far as it goes, nothing can be said 
against it. The only question is: Does such 
