Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/582

578 It has been said that Bernard has not influenced scientific thought and stimulated investigation as others have, for he so nearly completed the work suggested by his great discoveries. However true that may be in a limited sense, the statement is unjust, for, as with all important scientific discoveries, the effect produced indirectly on scientific thought can not be estimated. He was the first to prove beyond a doubt that animals can build up as well as break down complicated products in the course of their normal nutrition. Few ideas have been more stimulating than this and it undoubtedly greatly influenced thought which subsequently led to the proof of the synthesis of fat and the discovery of the complicated process of protein metabolism whereby protein foods are broken down and built up in the body. Destruction of the theory of functions encouraged further work on the various organs of the body. Since then, many valuable facts have been produced showing the close interrelation of functions of the organs and their interdependence on each other for normal activity. The discovery of the vasomotor nerves opened up an entirely new conception of the regulation of circulation and temperature. It has been of untold value in explaining physiological and pathological phenomena concerning this, one of the most fundamentally important functions of the body. Medical science has applied it to practical problems and made the knowledge of vasomotor activity indispensable to the practising physician.

Taken altogether, his work produced results which greatly advanced knowledge of physiological phenomena, placed physiology among the great sciences, and opened new lines of inquiry which yet promise to bear fruit of which his fertile imagination could not conceive.