Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T21:58:04.357Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CHAPTER III - OF NUTRITION; THE VITAL FORCE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

Get access

Summary

Thus we have clearly before us the idea of the organic state as one of tension, dependent upon an opposition to chemical affinities. And we see, too, how this tension is produced, at least in some cases: namely, by the previous operation of those very affinities themselves. But some interesting questions suggest themselves here, to which it is in our power to give at least probable answers. We may ask whether this dependence of the living state on chemical action is universal; or whether other forces, such as light and heat, may not also directly produce it? There appears reason to believe that the latter is not the case; but that a process of chemical change is always connected with the vitalizing of matter, and that any other forces which contribute to this end do so by first exciting chemical activity. Where the latter is not present, no amount of other force suffices to induce the vitalizing process. And so far from these other forces being always absorbed when growth is in progress, we see a notable instance of the contrary in the germination of the seed, which is attended with a decided rise of temperature. It appears that here the amount of chemical change is in excess of the vital action consequent upon it, and that, therefore, while a part of the force it generates goes to reproduce the vital state, and bring about the growth of the young plant, part of it passes off as heat.

Type
Chapter
Information
Life in Nature , pp. 59 - 73
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009
First published in: 1862

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×