ELEMENTS OP ORIGINALITY 177 



The question is: What determines the peculiar dif- 

 ferences between organic {predominantly non-polar) 

 substances and inorganic (chiefly polar) substances? 



According to my theory of life and law of growth, 

 all organic substances that are formed, (a) body of 

 organism, (6) the direct products of life-processes, 

 are secondary combinations, the formation of which 

 is directly or indirectly governed by another set of 

 combinations; that is, by the Z-system, the primary 

 system. Organic substances (that form the body of an 

 organism) are available for analysis only after the 

 Z-system, the primary system, has become separated 

 from them. But obviously, the substances that are 

 formed as one set of combinations that is limited 

 by another (interlocking) set of combinations, neces- 

 sarily must show marked peculiarities. It would appear 

 that the non-polar properties of substances, as tabulated 

 by Gilbert N. Lewis (seep. 92), are just such properties 

 as the theory would compel one to predicate of organic 

 substances. I submit: The properties of organic 

 substances find the general statement of their cause, 

 and the peculiarities of the formation of molecules 

 of organic substances can find their expression, in 

 the terms of my theory of life with its law of growth 

 and of the structure of living matter. It is my theory, 

 then, that the differences in properties between organic 

 and inorganic substances are due to the fact that 



