34 WHAT IS LIFE 



ods of measurement to the problem of life, the late 

 Svante Arrhenius said: "We cannot measure life in 

 its various aspects quantitatively as we measure 

 matter and energy To detect means of measur- 

 ing the quantities of life would be a revolutionary 

 discovery which may never be made."* But Jacques 

 Loeb declared that "biology will be scientific only to 

 the extent that it succeeds in reducing life phenomena 

 to quantitative laws."^ 



The statement that the critical demands of the 

 day in science are satisfactorily high, surely is 

 justified. 



When, therefore, anyone ventures to offer for ac- 

 ceptance ideas radically different from anything else, 

 and makes bold to call them a theory, it is but meet — 

 provided the work has apparent merit — that the 

 alleged theory be subjected to the severest examina- 

 tion possible. Unless the author has an established 

 reputation in the particular field of inquiry to which 

 the theory belongs, a preliminary rating would con- 

 cern itself with questions such as have to do with the 

 general character of scholarship as reflected in the 

 work and evincing qualification of the author for 

 the work, the value of the authorities cited, methods 

 employed, importance of the subject, and originality. 



' Life of the Universe, II, 252. 

 ' The Organism as a Whole, 11. 



