262 WHAT 18 LIFE 



of all the facts of atomic physics, it is of very special 

 interest that a department of biophysics has been 

 estabHshed in a number of large institutions. The 

 work is in the field of X-rays, of radium, and of ultra- 

 violet light brought into relation with living matter. 

 {See p. 196.) Seemingly it is only a short step from 

 the much-pursued study of the effects of X-rays and 

 of radium on animal tissue and particularly on cancer, 

 to the study of atomic physics and biophysics, yet the 

 establishment by a great institution of a department 

 of biophysics marks the official recognition of the 

 most significant advance in methods since physical 

 chemistry was first employed to elucidate life phe- 

 nomena. 



The hour of physics is striking. However, when a 

 textbook by an eminent physiologist (D. Noel 

 Paton^^) still makes the assertion (emphasizing it 

 with italics) that "the science of life has become the 

 science of the chemistry of protoplasm," it is, after 

 all, small wonder that a theory of life based on atomic 

 physics was not formulated before. 



" Essentials of Human Physiology, fifth edition, 3. 



