The principles of physiology / by John Gray McKendrick.

  • John Gray McKendrick
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of physiology / by John Gray McKendrick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    both that which is dead and that which is alive. Changes even in the minute structure of both dead and living matter may occur. For example, it is known that slow changes may happen in the structure of even hard metals. Particles of gold may penetrate into a mass of solid lead, and solid bodies may even, by slow movements, sink into an apparently brittle mass of cobblers’ wax. Slow changes probably occur in all kinds of matter, even the most dense and durable. Thus molecular changes, or, in other words, movements, may occur in matter which we call dead. Molecular movements also occur in living matter, so that such minute move¬ ments do not enable us to distinguish between what is dead and what is alive. Both dead and living matter, again, are subject to the laws of gravitation, and many electrical and optical phenomena are manifested in a similar way by so-called dead and by so-called living matter. 4. There is no difficulty, however, in recog¬ nizing many of the phenomena of life in one of the higher forms, whether it be a plant