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ORGANIC MATTER 97

by the ethereal undulations, and so reduced to less
coherent forms of aggregation, this same inertia
facilitates changes of arrangement among their con-
stituent molecules or atoms, since, in proportion as
an incident force impresses but little motion on a
mass, it is the better able to impress motion on
the parts of the mass in relation to one another" ;
" lastly, the great difference in diffusibility between
colloids and crystalloids makes possible in the tissues
of organisms a specially rapid redistribution of matter
and motion; both because colloids, being easily
permeable by crystalloids, can be chemically acted
on throughout their whole masses, instead of only
on their surfaces; and because the products of
decomposition, being also crystalloids, can escape
as fast as they are produced, leaving room for
further transformations." In short, organic matter
is chemically and physically well-suited to be the
physical basis of life.

The colloid character of organic matter facilitates modi-
fication by arrested momentum or by continuous strain.
There is often strong capillary affinity and rapid osmosis.
Heat is an important agent of redistribution in the animal
organism, and light is an "all-important agent of molecular
changes in organic substances. But the extreme modifiability
of organic matter by chemical agencies is the chief cause of
that active molecular rearrangement which organisms, and
especially animal organisms, display. In short, the substances
of which organisms are built up are specially sensitive to
the varied environing influences; "in consequence of its
extreme instability organic matter undergoes extensive mole-
cular rearrangements on very slight changes of conditions."

The correlative general fact is that during these extensive

molecular rearrangements, there are evolved large amounts

of energy, in the form of motion, heat, and even light and

electricity. On the one hand the components of organic



	ORGANIC MATTER 97 by the ethereal undulations, and so reduced to less coherent forms of aggregation, this same inertia facilitates changes of arrangement among their con- stituent molecules or atoms, since, in proportion as an incident force impresses but little motion on a mass, it is the better able to impress motion on the parts of the mass in relation to one another" ; " lastly, the great difference in diffusibility between colloids and crystalloids makes possible in the tissues of organisms a specially rapid redistribution of matter and motion; both because colloids, being easily permeable by crystalloids, can be chemically acted on throughout their whole masses, instead of only on their surfaces; and because the products of decomposition, being also crystalloids, can escape as fast as they are produced, leaving room for further transformations." In short, organic matter is chemically and physically well-suited to be the physical basis of life. The colloid character of organic matter facilitates modi- fication by arrested momentum or by continuous strain. There is often strong capillary affinity and rapid osmosis. Heat is an important agent of redistribution in the animal organism, and light is an "all-important agent of molecular changes in organic substances. But the extreme modifiability of organic matter by chemical agencies is the chief cause of that active molecular rearrangement which organisms, and especially animal organisms, display. In short, the substances of which organisms are built up are specially sensitive to the varied environing influences; "in consequence of its extreme instability organic matter undergoes extensive mole- cular rearrangements on very slight changes of conditions." The correlative general fact is that during these extensive molecular rearrangements, there are evolved large amounts of energy, in the form of motion, heat, and even light and electricity. On the one hand the components of organic G