. The dynamics of living matter. Biochemistry; Reproduction; Regeneration (Biology). ON SOME PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF LIFE 55 from objections such as we have mentioned ; namely, by assuming that chemical, not thermal conditions determine the absorbtion of fluid by the anisotropic substance. The action of the nerve upon the muscle might consist in facilitating a chemical change which increases the absorption of water by the anisotropic substance of the muscle. 2. QUINCKE'S THEORY OF PROTOPLASMIC MOTION The thermodynamic conception of muscular contraction has been abandoned by many authors, an
. The dynamics of living matter. Biochemistry; Reproduction; Regeneration (Biology). ON SOME PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF LIFE 55 from objections such as we have mentioned ; namely, by assuming that chemical, not thermal conditions determine the absorbtion of fluid by the anisotropic substance. The action of the nerve upon the muscle might consist in facilitating a chemical change which increases the absorption of water by the anisotropic substance of the muscle. 2. QUINCKE'S THEORY OF PROTOPLASMIC MOTION The thermodynamic conception of muscular contraction has been abandoned by many authors, and the surface energy has been con- sidered in its stead as the cause of muscular contraction and work. D'Arsonval, Imbert, and more recently Bernstein, have tried to offer a hypothesis of this kind. We shall understand these hypotheses better if we first consider Quincke's theory of protoplasmic motion.* When a drop of oil is put on the surface of water which is in contact with air, the oil spreads in an extremely thin layer at the limit between water and air. This process continues until a film of oil exists between water and air. The conditions for the spreading of the oil on the sur- face of the water are as follows: the particle of oil O at the left end of the oil drop (Fig. 7) is under the influence of three surface tensions which pull at it in three different - v_~^rr^_~ WAITER directions, OA, OB, and OC, and with different force. One is the surface tension between air and water, which tends to pull the particle from O in the direction OA. The second is the surface tension OB at the limit of oil and air, which tends to pull the particle O in the direction of the tangent OB from O. The third force is the surface tension at the limit of oil and water, which tends to pull the particle in the direction of the tangent OC from O. The surface tension at the limit of water and air is greater than the sum of the surface tensions at the limit between oil and air, and oil and water.
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