Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-12-20

: For the CHRONICLES.
Connection Between Organic ans
Inorganic Forces.
q By Prof. John w. Caldwell, NJ. D., S. w. P
University.
, Life is indeed a grand mystery
: no conscientious physiolOgist pre-
tends to understand it thoroughly
neither does the physicist claim to
be master of all the laws Of the uni.
/, verse, nor to be able to Eathom the
depths of the abstract subject OF
. force. And yet both physicist and
Psychologist are confident that they
hold in possession vast amount OF
data, which have been carefully
systematized, and now constitute
the basis of sciences, magnificent in
their outlook and beneficent in their
practice, bearings and results.
| Our present object is to show
some of the bonds of connection be-
tween the force which characterizes
the living organism and those more
recognizable and better known
forms of energy which are visible
in the organic world around. Let
it be understood at the outset that
we do not consi Ter the "Uis citoe,"
although used in the singular, to be
a unit and indivisible; it seems
rather to express eongeries Of
dynamic potencies than a single
unique force. Life is a presiding
genius, a governing law, regulat-
ing power, which utilizes and har-
monizes the ordinary force of mat
ter to the consentaneous working
out of the proposed object, viz: the
development, preservation and nor
NAL activities of the individual.
1t may not be irrelevant to remark
here, in regard to the ultimate
analysis of organized bodies, that
their chemical constitution does not
differ materially from that of inor-
ganic compounds. The tissues which
make up-the bulk of the plant or
tree are composed mainly of carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen the lowest
animal organism contains generally,
in addition to the above named ele-
ments, nitrogen; and in the bodies
of the highest vertebrates, including |
the human species, fifteen or sixteen
out of the sixty-four elements known
in chemistry, and perhaps all that
can be detected as normal cOnstitu-
ents. Of course it is not TO be con-
sidered derOgatory to the dignity of
the living organism, animal or veg
etable, that its particles are drawn
from the storehouse of common
dead matter and are only temporary
factors of the same; nor are we to be
charged with any want of respect,
in what may hereafter be adduced,
for the principle or force of life,
which we understand to be, in
whole or in part, the result OF the
ordinary forces of nature. What
are some of these forces?
In the consideration of this sub
ject, it were well to remember that
the two divisions of the organic
kingdom cannot be dissOciated-the
vegetable world is the necessary
antecedent to the existence of ami
mails. Plants appropriate to them
selves certain materials from with
out--they grow, being fed upon the
carbon dioxide, ammonia, water
and salt furnished by the air and
the soil. These compounds afford
the elements out of which their Or
ganized tissues are formed. But
whence comes the force by which
this advance is effected? +? The sun,
in presence of chlOrophyl and living
protOplasm, is able to cause the
decomposition or degrada-
tiOn of these compounds; and in
accordance with the theory of cor
relation and conservation of force as
applied to vital energy, and just as
a weight attached to one end of a
cord playing over a pulley, is able
to elevate weight attached to the
other end of the cord-so this degra-
dation or pulling down is able to
raise to a higher plane of dignity
the retained elements. Thus, in
general, are formed the various
kinds of vegetable tissues, which
or Immediately constitute I
the food ofanimals thesun, a phys
lcal source of energy, IS, primarily
and essentially, the great architect
and builder of the vegetable struct-
ure.
Inorganic compounds such as /,
those named as the food of plants /,
are stable and require for their
breaking down a complicate ar
rangement possessed by the vegeta-
Bile, but not by the animal. The
latter therefore would soon perish If !
supplied only with ammonia, car
bOnic acid, water and salts. The
animal demands substances in un-
stable equilibrium, chemical-or- !
ganized matter, proverhially prone
10 decomposition. As in the previ-
Dus case, a chemical "fall" evolves
a force or energy capable of bring j
ing about an ascent of matter to
higher plane of dignlty-to the oon- {
dilion of living animal fibre. So
that we endeavor te explain, on the c
general theory of the convertibility
Of forces, the elaboration first Of I
structures, and secondly |
Of animal, by the t!ansformation of
Dhx x,ciOoI aY,1 oh n