Some cells live a brief life of 12 to 24 hours, as is probably the case with many of the cells lining the alimentary canal; others may live for years, as do the cells of cartilage and bone. In fact each cell goes through the same cycle of changes as the whole organism, though doubtless in a much shorter time. The work of cells is of the most varied kind, and embraces the formation of every tissue and product,—solid, liquid, or gaseous. Thus we shall learn that the cells of the liver form bile, those of the salivary glands and of the glands of the stomach and pancreas form juices which aid in the digestion of food. 15. The Process of Life. All living structures are subject to constant decay. Life is a condition of incessant changes, dependent upon two opposite processes, repair and decay. Thus our bodies are not composed of exactly the same particles from day to day, or even from one moment to another, although to all appearance we remain the same individuals. The change is so gradual, and the renewal of that which is lost may be so exact, that no difference can be noticed except at long intervals of time.[4] (See under “Bacteria,” Chapter XIV.) The entire series of chemical changes that take place in the living body, beginning with assimilation and ending with excretion, is included in one word, metabolism. The process of building up living material, or the change by which complex substances (including the living matter itself) are built up from simpler materials, is called anabolism. The breaking down of material into simple products, or the changes in which complex materials (including the living substance) are broken down into comparatively simple products, is known as katabolism. This reduction of complex substances to simple, results in the production of animal force and energy. Thus a complex substance, like a piece of beef-steak, is built up of a large number of molecules which required the expenditure of force or energy to store up. Now when this material is reduced by the process of digestion to simpler bodies with fewer molecules, such as carbon dioxid, urea, and water, the force stored up in the meat as potential energy becomes manifest and is used as active life-force known as _kinetic energy_. 16. Epithelium. Cells are associated and combined in many ways to form a simple tissue. Such a simple tissue is called an epithelium or surface-limiting tissue, and the cells are known as epithelial cells. These are united by a very small amount of a cement substance which belongs to the proteid class of material. The epithelial cells, from their shape, are known as squamous, columnar, glandular, or ciliated. Again, the cells may be arranged in only a single layer, or they may be several layers deep. In the former case the epithelium is said to be simple; in the latter, stratified. No blood-vessels pass into these tissues; the cells derive their nourishment by the imbibition of the plasma of the blood exuded into the subjacent tissue.