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 BOOK II.

THE DOCTRINE OF ENERGY AND THE LIVING WORLD.

Summary: General Ideas of Life.—Elementary Life.—Chapter I. Energy in General.—Chapter II. Energy in Biology.—Chapter III. Alimentary Energetics.

GENERAL IDEAS OF LIFE. ELEMENTARY LIFE.

''Life is the Sum-total of the Phenomena Common to all Living Beings. Elementary Life''.—Living beings differ more in form and configuration than in their manner of being. They are distinguished more by their anatomy than by their physiology. There are, in fact, phenomena common to all, from the highest to the lowest. This is because there is that similar or identical foundation, that quid commune which has enabled us to apply to them the common name of "living beings." Claude Bernard gave to this sum-total of manifestations common to all (nutrition, reproduction) the name of elementary life. To him general physiology was the study of elementary life; the two expressions were equivalent, and they were equivalent to a longer formula which the illustrious biologist has given as a title to one of his most celebrated works—The Study of the Phenomena Common to all Living Beings, Animals,