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Story of the Living Machine, The
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Living Machine, by H. W. Conn This eBook is for the useof anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: The Story of the Living Machine A Review of the Conclusions of Modern Biology in Regard to theMechanism Which Controls the Phenomena of Living ActivityAuthor: H. W. ConnRelease Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16487]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE ***Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.netTHE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINEA REVIEW OF THE CONCLUSIONS OF MODERN BIOLOGY IN REGARD TO THE MECHANISMWHICH CONTROLS THE PHENOMENA OF LIVING ACTIVITYBYH.W. CONNPROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY IN WESLEYAN UNIVERSITYAUTHOR OF THE STORY OF GERM LIFE, EVOLUTION OF TO-DAY, THE LIVING WORLD, ETC.
WITH FIFTY ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1903COPYRIGHT, 1899, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.PREFACE.That the living body is a machine is a statement that is frequently made without any very accurate idea as towhat it means. On the one hand it is made with a belief that a strict comparison can be made between the bodyand an ordinary, artificial machine, and that living beings are thus reduced to simple mechanisms; on the otherhand it is made loosely, without any special thought as to its significance, and certainly with no conceptionthat it reduces life to a mechanism. The conclusion that the living body is a machine, involving as it does amechanical conception of life, is one of most extreme philosophical importance, and no one interested in thephilosophical conception of nature can fail to have an interest in this problem of the strict accuracy of thestatement that the body is a machine. Doubtless the complete story of the living machine can not yet be told;but the studies of the last fifty years have brought us so far along the road toward its completion that a review
Story of the Living Machine, The1
of the progress made and a glance at the yet unexplored realms and unanswered questions will be profitable.For this purpose this work is designed, with the hope that it may give a clear idea of the trend of recentbiological science and of the advances made toward the solution of the problem of life.MIDDLETOWN, CONN., U.S.A._October 1, 1898_.CONTENTS.PAGEINTRODUCTION--Biology a new science--Historical biology--Conservation of energy--Evolution--Cytology--New aspects of biology--The mechanical nature of livingorganisms--Significance of the new biological problems--Outline of the subject 1
PART I.
_THE RUNNING OF THE LIVING MACHINE._
CHAPTER I.
IS THE BODY A MACHINE?What is a machine?--A general comparison of a body and a machine--Details of the action of themachine--Physical explanation of the chief vital functions--The living body is a machine--The living machineconstructive as well as destructive--The vital factor 19
CHAPTER II.
THE CELL AND PROTOPLASM.Vital properties--The discovery of cells--The cell doctrine--The cell--The cellular structure of organisms--Thecell wall--Protoplasm--The reign of protoplasm--The decline of the reign of protoplasm--The structure of protoplasm--The nucleus--Centrosome--Function of the nucleus--Cell division or karyokinesis--Fertilizationof the egg--The significance of fertilization--What is protoplasm?--Reaction against the celldoctrine--Fundamental vital activities as located in cells--Summary 54
PART II.
THE BUILDING OF THE LIVING MACHINE
.
CHAPTER III.
THE FACTORS CONCERNED IN THE BUILDING OF THE LIVING MACHINE.History of the living machine--Evidence for thishistory--Historical--Embryological--Anatomical--Significance of these sources of history--Forces at work in
PART I.2
the building of the living machine--Reproduction--Heredity--Variation--Inheritance of variations--Method of machine building--Migration and isolation--Direct influence of environment--Consciousness--Summary of Nature's power of building machines--The origin of the cell machine--General summary 131LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.FIGURE PAGE
Amoeba Polypodia
in six successive stages of division
Frontispiece
1. Figure illustrating osmosis 302. Figure illustrating osmosis 313. Diagram of the intestinal walls 324. Diagram of a single villus 335. Enlarged figure of four cells in the villus membrane 336. A bit of muscle showing blood-vessels 367. A bit of bark showing cellular structure 618. Successive stages in the division of the developing egg 639. A typical cell 6510. Cells at a root tip 6611. Section of a leaf showing cells of different shapes 6612. Plant cells with thick walls, from a fern 6713. Section of potato 6714. Various shaped wood cells from plant tissue 6815. A bit of cartilage 6816. Frogs' blood 6917. A bit of bone 6918. Connective tissue 7019. A piece of nerve fibre 7020. A muscle fibre 7121. A complex cell, vorticella 7122. An amoeba 73
CHAPTER III.3
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H.W. Conn - The Story of the Living Machine - A Review of the Conclusions of Modern Biology in Regard to the Mechanism Which Controls the Phenomena of Living Activity
H.W. Conn - The Story of the Living Machine - A Review of the Conclusions of Modern Biology in Regard to the Mechanism Which Controls the Phenomena of Living Activity
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