place, it has determined the composition of the constituent materials of the organism; then analyzing qualitatively and quantitatively all that penetrates into that organism in a given time—that is to say, all the alimentary or respiratory ingesta, and all that issues from the organism, i.e., all the excreta, all the egesta,—it has drawn up nutritive balance sheets, corresponding to the various conditions of life, whether naturally or artificially created. And thus we can determine the alimentary régimes which give too much, and which give too little, and which finally restore equilibrium.
We do not propose to give a detailed account of this scientific movement. This may be done in monographs. All we wish to indicate here is the most general result of these laborious researches—that is to say, the laws and the doctrines which are derived from them, and the theories to which they have given birth. It is by this alone that they are brought into relation with general science, and may therefore interest the reader. The facts of detail are never lacking to the historian; it is more profitable to show the movement of ideas. The theories of alimentation bring into conflict very different conceptions of the vital functional activity. And here we find a confused medley of opinions on which it is not without interest to endeavour to throw some light.
§ 1. Food, a Source of Energy and Matter.
Definitions of Food.—Before the introduction into
physiology of the notion of energy, no one had
succeeded in giving an exact idea and a precise
definition of food and alimentation. Every physio-
