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  THE 
  CRITERIA 
  OF 
  LIVINGNESS 
  

  

  investigators 
  claim 
  for 
  the 
  organism 
  a 
  unique 
  power 
  of 
  re- 
  

   tarding 
  the 
  universal 
  tendency 
  of 
  energy 
  to 
  sink 
  into 
  unavail- 
  

   able 
  form, 
  in 
  other 
  words, 
  of 
  evading, 
  in 
  some 
  measure, 
  the 
  

   second 
  law 
  of 
  thermodynamics. 
  

  

  (2) 
  If 
  a 
  piece 
  of 
  organism 
  be 
  ground 
  up 
  in 
  a 
  mortar 
  and 
  

   the 
  expressed 
  juice 
  poured 
  into 
  a 
  vessel, 
  a 
  process 
  of 
  metab- 
  

   olism 
  is 
  sometimes 
  observable 
  similar 
  to 
  that 
  which 
  occurs 
  

   in 
  the 
  living 
  body. 
  Every 
  one 
  knows 
  that 
  pepsin 
  may 
  be 
  

   bought 
  at 
  the 
  chemist's, 
  and 
  used 
  to 
  digest 
  a 
  shred 
  of 
  beef 
  

   in 
  a 
  test-tube. 
  It 
  is 
  true 
  that 
  neither 
  the 
  ferment 
  nor 
  the 
  

   proteid 
  can 
  as 
  yet 
  be 
  synthesised 
  artificially, 
  but 
  this 
  may 
  

   be 
  only 
  a 
  question 
  of 
  time 
  and 
  ingenuity. 
  We 
  cannot 
  dog- 
  

   matise 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  limits 
  of 
  mimicking 
  in 
  a 
  test-tube 
  what 
  

   occurs 
  normally 
  in 
  an 
  organism, 
  and 
  if 
  the 
  reaction 
  be 
  

   mimicked, 
  then 
  there 
  is 
  nothing 
  characteristically 
  vital 
  about 
  

   it, 
  any 
  more 
  than 
  there 
  is 
  about 
  organic 
  substances 
  like 
  

   sugar 
  and 
  indigo 
  which 
  used 
  to 
  be 
  regarded 
  as 
  producible 
  

   in 
  organisms 
  only. 
  But 
  the 
  point 
  is 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  living 
  

   organism 
  the 
  process 
  in 
  question 
  is 
  a 
  link 
  in 
  a 
  concatenated 
  

   series 
  which 
  makes 
  for 
  self-repair 
  and 
  continuance. 
  The 
  

   essential 
  secret 
  of 
  living 
  is 
  in 
  the 
  correlation 
  which 
  secures 
  

   persistence 
  amid 
  change. 
  

  

  (3) 
  If 
  the 
  whole 
  of 
  a 
  living 
  organism, 
  say 
  a 
  spinach 
  

   plant, 
  were 
  to 
  be 
  minced 
  up 
  quickly, 
  no 
  change 
  of 
  chemical 
  

   composition 
  would 
  necessarily 
  occur 
  for 
  some 
  little 
  time, 
  

   but 
  what 
  exhibition 
  would 
  there 
  be 
  of 
  the 
  alleged 
  funda- 
  

   mental 
  characteristic 
  of 
  self-repair 
  ? 
  It 
  may 
  be 
  answered 
  

   that 
  the 
  mincing 
  has 
  destroyed 
  the 
  make-up 
  of 
  the 
  organism, 
  

   that 
  the 
  living 
  units 
  of 
  the 
  body 
  arc 
  in 
  most 
  cases 
  adapted 
  

   for 
  self-repair 
  only 
  in 
  particular 
  conditions, 
  such 
  as 
  an 
  

   environment 
  of 
  other 
  cells, 
  in 
  the 
  collocation 
  which 
  has 
  been 
  

   abolished 
  by 
  the 
  mincing. 
  But 
  while 
  the 
  power 
  of 
  self-repair 
  

  

  