The Story of the Living Machine

but most of them utilize less than one-tenth. The experiments with the living body in the respiration apparatus above described, give a means of determining the proportion of the energy furnished in the form of food which can be utilized in the form of motive force. This figure appears to be decidedly larger than that obtained by any machine yet devised by man. The conclusion of the matter up to this point is then clear. If we leave out of account the phenomena of the nervous system, which we shall consider presently, the general income and outgo of the body as concerns matter and energy is such that the body must be regarded as a machine, which, like other machines, simply transforms energy without creating or destroying it. To this extent, at least, animals conform to the law of the conservation of energy and are veritable machines. Details of the Action of the Machine.—We turn next to some of the subordinate problems concerning the details of the action of the living machine. We have a clear understanding of the method of action of a steam engine. Its mechanism is simple, and, moreover, it was designed by human intelligence. We can understand how the force of chemical affinity breaks up the chemical composition of the coal, how the heat thus liberated is applied to the water to vapourize it; how the vapour is collected in the boiler under pressure; how this pressure is applied to the piston in the cylinder, and how this finally results in the revolution of the fly-wheel. It is true that we do not understand the underlying forces of chemism, etc., but these forces certainly exist and are the foundation of science. But the mechanism of the engine is intelligible. Our understanding of it is such that, with the forces of chemistry and physics as a foundation, we can readily explain the running of the machine. Our next problem, therefore, is to see if we can in the same way reach an understanding of the phenomena of the living machine. Can we, by the use of these same chemical and physical forces, explain the activities taking place in the living organism? Can the motion of the body, for example, be made as intelligible as the motion of the steam engine? Physical Explanation of the Chief Vital Functions.—The living machine is, of course, vastly more complicated than the steam engine, and there are many different processes which must be considered separately. There is not space in a work of this size to consider them all carefully, but we may select a few of the vital functions as illustrations of the method which is pursued. It will be assumed that the fundamental processes of human physiology are understood by the reader, and we shall try to interpret some of them in terms of chemical and physical force. Digestion.—The first step in this transformation of fuel is the process of digestion. Now this process of digestion is nothing mysterious, nor does it involve any peculiar or special forces. Digestion of food is simply a chemical change therein. The food which is taken into the body in the form of sugar, starch, fat or protein, is acted upon by the digestive juices in such a way that its chemical nature is slightly changed. But the changes that thus occur are not peculiar to the living body, since they will take place equally well in the chemist's laboratory. They are simply changes in the molecular structure of the food material, and only such changes as are simple and familiar to the chemist. The forces which effect the change are undoubtedly those of chemical affinity. The only feature of the process which is not perfectly intelligible in terms of chemical law is the nature of the digestive juices. The digestive fluids of the mouth and stomach contain certain substances which possess a somewhat remarkable power, inasmuch as they are able to bring about the chemical changes which occur in the digestion of food. An example will make this clearer. One of the digestive processes is the conversion of starch into sugar. The relation of these two bodies is a very simple one, starch being readily converted into sugar by the addition to its molecule of a molecule of water. The change can not be produced by simply adding starch to water, but the water must be introduced into the starch molecule. This change can be brought about in a variety of ways, and is undoubtedly effected by the forces of chemical affinity. Chemists have found simple methods of producing this chemical union, and the manufacture of sugar out of starchy material has even become something of a commercial industry. One of the methods by which this change can be produced is by adding to the starch, along with some water, a little saliva. The saliva has the power of causing the chemical change to occur at once, and the molecule of water enters into the starch molecule and forms sugar. Now we do not understand how this saliva possesses this power to induce the chemical change. But apparently the process is of the simplest character and involves no greater mystery than chemical affinity. We know that the saliva contains a certain material called a ferment, which is the active agent in bringing about the change. This ferment is not alive, nor does it need any living environment for its action. It can be separated from the saliva in the form of a dry amorphous powder, and in this form can be preserved almost indefinitely, retaining its power to effect the change whenever put under proper conditions. The change of starch into sugar is thus a simple chemical change occurring under the influence of chemical affinity under certain conditions. One of the conditions is the presence of this saliva ferment. If we can not exactly understand how the ferment produces this action, neither do we exactly understand how a spark causes a bit of gunpowder to explode. But we can not doubt that the latter is a purely natural result of the relation of chemical and physical forces, and there is no more reason for doubting it in the former case. What is true of the digestion of starch by saliva is equally true of the digestion of other foods in the stomach and intestine. Each of the digestive juices contains a ferment which brings about a chemical change in the food. The changes are always chemical changes and are the result of chemical forces. Apart from the presence of these ferments there is really little difference between laboratory chemistry and living chemistry. FIG. 1.—To illustrate osmosis. In thevessel A is a solution of sugar; in B is pure water. The two are separated by the mebrane C. The sugar passes through the membrane into B. Absorption of food.—The next function of this machine to attract our attention is the absorption of food from the intestine into the blood. The digested food is carried down the alimentary canal in a purely mechanical fashion by muscular action, and when it reaches the intestine it begins to pass through its walls into the blood. In this absorption we find engaged another set of forces, the chief of which appears to be the physical force of osmosis. The force of osmosis has no special connection with life. If a membrane separates two liquids of different composition (Fig. i), a force is exerted on the liquids which cause them to pass through the membrane, each passing through the membrane into the other compartment. The force which drives these liquids through the membrane is considerable, and may sometimes be exerted against considerable pressure. A simple experiment will illustrate this force. In Fig. 2 is represented a membranous bag tightly fastened to a glass tube. The bag is filled with a strong solution of sugar, and is immersed in a vessel containing pure water. Under these conditions some of the sugar solution passes through the bag into the water, and some of the water passes from the vessel into the bag. But if the solution of sugar is inside the bag and the pure water outside, the amount of liquid passing into the bag is greater than the amount passing out; the bag soon becomes distended and the water even rises in the tube to a considerable height at a(Fig. 2). The force here concerned is a force known as osmosis or dialysis, and is always exerted when two different solutions of certain substances are separated from each other by a membrane. The substances in solution will, under these conditions, pass from the dense to the weaker solution. The process is a purely physical one. FIG. 2.—In the bladder A is a sugar solutionIn the vessel B is pure water. Sugar passes out and water into the bladder until it rises in the tube to a. This process of osmosis lies at the basis of the absorption of food from the alimentary canal. In the first place, most of the food when swallowed is not soluble, and therefore not capable of osmosis. But the process of digestion, as we have seen, changes the chemical nature of the food. The food, as the result of chemical change, has become soluble, and after being dissolved it is dialyzable—i.e., capable of osmosis. After digestion, therefore, the food is dissolved in the liquids in the stomach and intestine, and is in proper condition for dialysis. Furthermore, the structure of the intestine is such as to produce conditions adapted for dialysis. This can be understood from Fig. 3, which represents diagrammatically a cross section through the intestinal wall. Within the intestinal wall, at A, is the food mass in solution. At B are shown little projections of the intestinal wall, called villi extending into this food and covered by a membrane. One of these villi is shown more highly magnified in Fig. 4, in which B shows this membrane. Inside of these villi are blood-vessels, C, and it will be thus seen that the membrane, B, separates two liquids, one containing the dissolved food outside the villus, and the other containing blood inside the villus. Here are proper conditions for osmosis, and this process of dialysis will take place whenever the intestinal contents holds more dialyzable material than the blood. Under these conditions, which will always occur after food has been digested by the digestive juices, the food will begin to pass through this membranous wall of the intestine into the blood under the influence of the physical force of osmosis. Thus the primary factor in food absorption is a physical one. FIG. 3—Diagram of the intestinal walls. A, lumen of intestine filled with digested food. B, villi, containing blood vessels. C, larger blood vessel, which carries blood with absorbed food away from the intestine. We must notice, however, that the physical force of osmosis is not the only factor concerned in absorption. In the first place, it is found that the food during its passage through the intestinal wall, or shortly afterwards, undergoes a further change, so that by the time it has fairly reached the blood it has again changed its chemical nature. These changes are, however, of a chemical nature, and, while we do not yet know very much about them, they are of the same sort as those of digestion, and involve probably nothing more than chemical processes. Secondly, we notice that there is one phase of absorption which is still obscure. Part of the food is composed of fat, and this fat, as the result of digestion, is mechanically broken up into extremely minute droplets. Although these droplets are of microscopic size they are not actually in solution, and therefore not subject to the force of osmosis which only affects solutions. The osmotic force will not force fat drops through membranes, and to explain their passage through the walls of the intestine requires something additional. We are