Familiar Letters on Chemistry, and Its Relation to Commerce, Physiology, and AgricultureLiebig, Justus, Freiherr von
Science
Familiar Letters on Chemistry, and Its Relation to Commerce, Physiology, and Agriculture
Liebig, Justus, Freiherr von
Chemistry
Now, the circulation in the young animal is not weaker, but, on the
contrary, more rapid; the respirations are more frequent; and, for
equal bulks, the consumption of oxygen must be greater rather than
smaller in the young than in the adult animal. But, since the
metamorphosis of organised parts goes on more slowly, there would
ensue a deficiency of those substances, the carbon and hydrogen of
which are adapted for combination with oxygen; because, in the
carnivora, nature has destined the new compounds, produced by the
metamorphosis of organised parts, to furnish the necessary
resistance to the action of the oxygen, and to produce animal heat.
What is wanting for these purposes an Infinite Wisdom has supplied
to the young in its natural food.
The carbon and hydrogen of butter, and the carbon of the sugar of
milk, no part of either of which can yield blood, fibrine, or
albumen, are destined for the support of the respiratory process, at
an age when a greater resistance is opposed to the metamorphosis of
existing organisms; or, in other words, to the production of
compounds, which, in the adult state, are produced in quantity amply
sufficient for the purpose of respiration.
The young animal receives the constituents of its blood in the
caseine of the milk. A metamorphosis of existing organs goes on, for
bile and urine are secreted; the materials of the metamorphosed
parts are given off in the form of urine, of carbonic acid, and of
water; but the butter and sugar of milk also disappear; they cannot
be detected in the faeces.
The butter and sugar of milk are given out in the form of carbonic
acid and water, and their conversion into oxidised products
furnishes the clearest proof that far more oxygen is absorbed than
is required to convert the carbon and hydrogen of the metamorphosed
tissues into carbonic acid and water.
The change and metamorphosis of organised tissues going on in the
vital process in the young animal, consequently yield, in a given
time, much less carbon and hydrogen in the form adapted for the
respiratory process than correspond to the oxygen taken up in the
lungs. The substance of its organised parts would undergo a more
rapid consumption, and would necessarily yield to the action of the
oxygen, were not the deficiency of carbon and hydrogen supplied from
another source.
The continued increase of mass, or growth, and the free and
unimpeded development of the organs in the young animal, are
dependent on the presence of foreign substances, which, in the
nutritive process, have no other function than to protect the
newly-formed organs from the action of the oxygen. The elements of
these substances unite with the oxygen; the organs themselves could
not do so without being consumed; that is, growth, or increase of
mass in the body,--the consumption of oxygen remaining the
same,--would be utterly impossible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account