20 INJURY, RECOVERY, AND DEATH 



jury, recovery, and death by quantitative methods and 

 obtain a set of equations by which they can be predicted. 

 It may be added that the predictive value of these equa- 

 tions is quite independent of the assumptions upon which 

 they were originally based. The importance of such 

 equations is fully as great in biology as in physics 

 or chemistry. 



The measurements described in this volume, and the 

 accompanying mathematical analysis, lead to a quantita- 

 tive theory of the mechanism which underlies certain 

 important phenomena. The theory can be tested by 

 exact methods and, as far as experiments have gone, 

 appears to be sound. This investigation of certain fun- 

 damental life processes seems to show that they obey 

 the laws of chemical dynamics: it likewise illustrates 

 a method which promises to throw light upon the under- 

 lying mechanism of these processes and to assist in the 

 analysis and control of life-phenomena. 



