The functional inertia of living matter : a contribution to the physiological theory of life / [David Fraser Fraser-Harris].

  • David Fraser Fraser-Harris
Date:
1908
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The functional inertia of living matter : a contribution to the physiological theory of life / [David Fraser Fraser-Harris]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    some of the results of the possession of affectability (always excepting automatism, an interesting ex- ception, as we shall see) ? From my point of view, irritability is not something in the same category with, not of the same order as movement, secretion, &c., but is more fundamental—a property of living matter, in fact, while the other things are results of its existence—phenomena or manifestations of vitality. Affectability is rather the essence of vitality on the existence of which these others depend—from which they flow. To go no further than the phenomena instanced by Foster and McKendrick, I would prefer some such classification as the following : Vital Manifestations or Results. I Assimilation, certain aspects of metabolism, movement, secre- ( tion, and reproduction. (Automatic molecular changes, (2) Functional inertia . ] certain other asPects of meta' holism, e.g., reproduction and rhythmic movements. I prefer to put it—that certain phenomena are the result of protoplasm being affectable ; but we must not mix up affectability with certain of the signs of its existence : it is a causal condition, they are effects, it is an antecedent condition, they are consequences of it. Being affectable, protoplasm re- sponds to a stimulus—the nature of the stimulus being for the present of no moment—and these responses Essential or Fundamental Properties of Protoplasm. (i) Affectability.