

FOREWORD 



The purpose of the present work is to furnish 

 a satisfactory mechanistic explanation for the 

 fundamental life processes, especially in so far as 

 they differ from known physical and chemical 

 processes. The inability of scientists to explain 

 how a complex living organism can reproduce 

 itself through the medium of a single germ cell 

 has caused many of them, even until the present 

 day, to desert the mechanistic school and to return, 

 reluctantly, to vitalistic teachings. Although the 

 author's sympathies have always been with the 

 mechanists, yet after candid and impartial con- 

 sideration of this subject he has come to the 

 conclusion that the arguments of the vitalists 

 cannot be successfully answered on the basis of 

 our previous scientific knowledge, and that the fun- 

 damental life processes have heretofore remained 

 unexplained. Mere analogies do not constitute 

 explanations, nor is the explanation of certain 

 minor details equivalent to an explanation of 

 fundamentals. 



The spirazine hypothesis was conceived in De- 

 cember, 1925. During the year 1926 every pos- 

 sible effort was made to obtain publication of it 

 in the scientific magazines, but without success. 

 In some cases the article was returned without 



