Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-11-27
PROF. TYSDALL ON TIE PHENON.
ENA UF HUMAN LIFE.
Scientific Ameriosn,I

ooA0hbihC AueIlOau,l
Prot. Tyndall has recently deliv-
cred before the Midland Institute
at Birmingham, England, one of
those characteristic addresses of his
which seems to us likely to excite
discussion as widespread as that
aroused by his fam0U5 prayer gauge
proposal and the great Belfast
speech. The idea that there is no
necessity for invoking the super
natural to account for the ordinary
phenomena Of hnman life has al
ready been repeatedly foreshadowed
in Prof Tyndall's writings. Nor
has he been at all alone in that
view, as it is virtually the same as
is held by the majority of scientific
reaSoners Of the present time. But
in this late address he crystalizes,
so to speak, that opinion and the
arguments on which it rests into a
compact mass of logical reasoning.
With all this clearness, precision
and beauty of language which have
rendered him almost without peer
as public lecturer, he places before
us chain Of argument, or rather
causes his hearers to forge the links
together, he only acting as guide,
and thus enables them to reach for
themselves a logical conclusion.
just as in the opening of mu.
Sical work, a suggestion is given of
the themes afterwards to be wrought
out, so in his Introductory sen.
tences, by which the audience is
placed in good humor with them
selves and the lecturer, Prof. Tyn-
dali manages to shadow forth an in
stance of absence of free will. Half
humorouSly he deplores the hard
fate of modern scientific men who,
like himself, are drawn from their
quiet laboratories and forced into
publicity which is not conducive to
the exercise of their best powers.
Unlike Joule and Darwin, who are
not dragged from their seclusion
and made presidents of associations,
he himself is special sufferer, but
social duties are paramount to his
will. With this much preamble
he launches into a splendid
account Of that great theory OF
modern science, the doctrine of the
conservation Of energy. "There
is nothing gratuitous in physical
nature" he says "no expenditure
without equivalent gain, no gain
without equivalent expenditure.
With inexorable cOnstancy the one
accompanies the other, leaving no
nook or creyice between them for
spontaneity to mingle with the pure
and necessary play Of natural force
Has this uniformity Of nature ever
been broken? The reply is, Not
to the knowledge of natural sci
ence. -" Then follows a wealth oil
illustration to show the universal
application of the great law, and
through this, step by step, the hear
er is led to the question Of the en-
ergy of the human machine
Joule's statement is quoted, that
unless we abandon the physiologi-
cal axiom that "the animal body
cannot create heat ont of nothing
we are driven to the conclusion thai
it is the total heat within and with.
out that ought to be regarded al
the real calorilic effect OF the oxida
ton within the body" A mar
weighing $50 pounds consumes, We
are told, in lifting his own body tc
the hight of eight feet, the heat O
a grain of carbon. Jumping from
this hight, the heat IS restored
The muscles of a laborsr Whos'
weight is $50 pounds weigh sixty.
four pounds. When dried they ART
reduced to fifteen pounds. Were
the oxidation corresponding to {
I day laborer's ordinary work exerteC
on the muscles alone, they woulC
be wholly consumed in eighty days
1t is but a step further on to asl
what enables the production Of bod
lily motions, and to inquire whethe
; it is the action of the will. Th
answer is that the will is mediate
Innt dirnnt Tho nAruAs nnnkrnllal