A Chemical Sign of Life (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book A Chemical Sign of Life (Classic Reprint) written by Shiro Tashiro and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-03 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Chemical Sign of Life The present work is an attempt to apply facts discovered during the study of the physiology of nerves to living processes in general. That mechanism characteristic of all living matter which enables it to respond to the external world is best developed in the nervous system. This mechanism may be called the most characteristic thing in life. The chemical accompaniment, or basis, of this mechanism, discovered by the author in nerve fibers, he has hoped to show exists also in all forms of living matter, both of plants and of animals. It gives a chemical method of distinguishing living from dead tissue, and of measuring the quantity of life. This book, therefore, contains somewhat in detail all the essential facts which he with his students has discovered from studies of the chemical changes in nerves accompanying functional change. In the presentation of this work, however, many important references and discussions have been omitted in order that the reader may not lose the main trend of the argument. The facts themselves are nevertheless given in the form of accurate numerical data so that the book may be useful also to the specialist whose interest lies more directly in the general physiology of the nervous system. In an appendix the detailed method for the use of the biometer is added in response to frequent requests of many friends and students who wish to use it for various biological and chemical researches. The author is deeply indebted to Professor A. P. Mathews for his criticism, scientific and literary, during the preparation of the work. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.