Physiology: The Science of the BodyMartin, Ernest G.
Science
Physiology: The Science of the Body
Martin, Ernest G.
Physiology
this tiny particle preserves all the original cells, or at least enough
of them to make a fresh start, and a very sluggish metabolism goes on in
each cell. Of course, the advantage of this is that the stored food
materials will not be used up as rapidly as they would if metabolism
went on at the usual rate, and so there is a better chance that the
animal may survive until more water falls or drains into the puddle, or
until the particle of dust which the animal has become may be blown by
the wind where it will fall into another one. Whenever either of these
things happens the protoplasm takes up water again and the former rate
of metabolism is resumed. It is only by means of this reduction in rate
of metabolism that many kinds of animals are able to persist, for in
large parts of the globe there is a period of each year when conditions
become so unfavorable that the usual rate of metabolism could not
possibly be maintained.
Next in order to basic metabolism comes the metabolism of growth, by
which we mean the energy necessary for the making of new protoplasm. Not
a great deal is known about growth metabolism; in fact, about the only
reason for believing that it requires any energy at all is that the
metabolism of young animals, whenever it has been studied, has been
found to be greater in proportion than that of animals that are fully
grown. It is hard to account for this, unless the growth process
itself, namely, the making of new protoplasm, requires energy. When we
think of the extreme complexity of living protoplasm, we can easily
believe that its formation involves the expenditure of energy, perhaps
in considerable amounts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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