Abstract
THE phenomenon described by Capt. C. J. P. Cave (NATURE, October 18, p. 126) is one of the many instances which support Hering's “Theory of the Processes in Living Substance.” According to this theory every kind of living substance is subject to two reciprocal forms of change, the one constructive or “assimilative,” the other destructive or “dissimilative.” (These terms are nearly synonymous with Gaskell's more characteristic, though not quite classical terms, “anabolic” and “katabolic.”) Every effective stimulus causes one or other of these changes, and at any given instant the living substance is in a state of unstable balance between the two, like a flying animal or machine between the force of gravity and the lifting force. On the cessation or diminution of any stimulus, the living substance tends to return towards the state of balance from which that stimulus changed it.
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ALLEN, F. An Optical Phenomenon. Nature 100, 165 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/100165a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/100165a0
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