Physiology: The Science of the BodyMartin, Ernest G.
Science
Physiology: The Science of the Body
Martin, Ernest G.
Physiology
Here we have our sign of life that is applicable to all kinds of cells
wherever they are located, whether making up the whole of a microscopic
animal or deeply imbedded in the body of a large animal which consists
of millions of them. If power development is going on, the cell is
alive; if no power is being developed, the cell is not alive. When this
test is applied it is found that all the protoplasmic cell masses which
are present in the body of a plant or animal are alive, and since such
masses are everywhere throughout the body, life is present in all parts
of it, and not confined to the brain or to any other single region. We
might admit that the Hindus are correct in assuming that the spirit can
sometimes soar away and leave the lifeless body behind, but we cannot
accept the possibility that it can return and establish life within it
again. When life is resumed after a trance, that fact is proof positive
that life continued throughout the trance itself.
CHAPTER II
THE MAINTAINING OF LIFE
Equal in importance to being alive is the power to go on living;
therefore, having described the signs of life, our next task is to
consider how that life is maintained. When the primary fact of life was
given as continuous power development, the foundation was laid for this
topic, for life cannot fail to go on if continuous power development is
maintained.
Power development in living animals as in locomotives depends on fuel
and oxygen; evidently continuous supplies of these must be provided if
life is to go on. The living animal differs from the locomotive in this:
that while some one attends to supplying the locomotive with fuel, most
living animals, except the very young, have to attend to providing
themselves. There are exceptions to this rule. The tapeworms that
inhabit the intestines of animals, and sometimes of men, live in a
stream of food; they are put to no trouble to obtain it. The same is
true of many kinds of parasites. Except for these, however, it holds
true that animals must attend to their own wants. We shall now begin to
see the utility of the most conspicuous sign of life spoken of in the
first chapter, namely, motion, for food must be gotten where it is; only
tapeworms and similar animals swim in it. All the rest, including
ourselves, must go to where the food is. Even animals like oysters,
that are anchored to the rocks, have to use motion in getting food. In
their case the motion consists in setting up a current in the sea water
into and through their bodies, from which current they sift out the tiny
food particles which abound in the ocean.
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