The functions of food in the body : does either bodily energy or bodily heat come from the food? / by A. Rabagliati.

  • Rabagliati, A. (Andrea Carlo Francesco), 1843-
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The functions of food in the body : does either bodily energy or bodily heat come from the food? / by A. Rabagliati. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    use the term “ cause ” in its scientific sense of constant sequence or constant concomitance or necessary pre- cedence, then the Sun is the cause of the heat, while the chemical action between Carbon and Oxygen is the occasion of the liberation of the heat, The analogy of the electric motor to the working of the human machine appears to me to be a much truer one than that of the steam engine, although, as I have shown, the action of the latter is not so crude as is generally supposed. The machine at the bottom of the electric tram car, which works the car, is worked by electric energy; as we can easily see if we ask ourselves how long it would continue to work if the trolley were off the wire. For the moment however we are occupied with the consideration only of the fact, that the more work the motor does, or more accurately, the more work the motor is made the means or vehicle of doing, the more does the motor waste. The engineer keeps oiling the machine, and by and bye, when it is worn out, pulls it out and puts in a new one. But the body is self-repairing ; and this is the chief difference it seems to me between the artificial machine made by man, and a natural machine made by Nature, pro-created, as it appears to be by dynamism or energy; which energy is created by or emanates from the Author of Nature. The food, however,
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