260 WE AT IS LIFE 



German students, the Braggs, and Henry Moseley) 

 on which it is built. Nevertheless, how general the 

 acceptance of the fundamentals of atomic physics is, 

 may be stated in the words of R. A. Millikan: 

 "Today there is absolutely no philosophy in the field 

 other than the atomic philosophy, at least among 

 physicists. "^^ 



The facts of atomic physics are absolutely in- 

 dispensable to the comprehensive interpretation of 

 life, the organism. In the absence of much-needed 

 data, then, it was impossible for the would-be inter- 

 preter of the organism to frame an adequate theory of 

 life. Surely that was his misfortune — blame for the 

 tardiness of the development of physics may not be 

 heaped upon him. Lawrence J. Henderson (in 1913) 

 sketched *'the painful advance of physics and chem- 

 istry into the domain of biology," and pointed out 

 *'how progress is beset with well-nigh insuperable 

 obstacles." He concluded : "Thus it is that biological 

 thought has never attained to that finality which 

 appears, at least by contrast, to characterize the 

 greater body of opinions in physical science. "^^ 



However, the needed facts are now available. And 

 to neglect to make use of all the facts of atomic physics 

 predestines any "theory" of life to certain failure. 



'^ The Electron, second edition, 10. 

 '" The Fitness of the Environment, 282. 



