84 Can Science Explain Life? 



namics. They appear to proceed of their own 

 accord in only that direction which involves an in- 

 crease of entropy. It has been shown by Boltz- 

 mann, however, that the direction in which irre- 

 versible processes take place is determined by the 

 principles of statistical mechanics and that the 

 direction is always snch as will involve a change 

 from a less probable to a more probable state. 

 This concept of entropy has been further ex- 

 plained by G. N. Lewis, who has shown that in 

 purely physico-chemical processes there is really 

 no preference of direction, and that the apparent 

 increase of entropy means merely loss of informa- 

 tion. The entropy concept has therefore a purely 

 subjective origin and cannot exist of its own right. 

 It should therefore not be surprising when we 

 find that the chemical structure of living matter 

 recognizes no second law of thermodynamics. In 

 chemically organized structures of this sort the 

 orderly arrangement of the atoms along the sides 

 of the polygonal compartments will tend to sort 

 out rather than mix up the molecules or ions 

 within them. The passages which lead into or out 

 of these polygonal compartments being of the 

 order of molecular dimensions, it is conceivable 

 that the surrounding chemical structures may be 

 so constituted that they will behave like Maxwell's 

 demons and close or open these passages accord- 



