Chapter IX 

 THE RELATION OF CELLS TO ONE ANOTHER 



Alexis Carrel 



BIOLOGY deals with problems of a far more complex 

 nature than those of any other natural science. 

 The solution of some of these problems is not yet in 

 sight. As their subject matter hes on difficult and dangerous 

 grounds at the frontier of science and philosophy, it cannot 

 easily be brought into the experimental field. Such is the 

 question of the manifoldness and the unity of the organism. 

 We know that every human being is composed of bilHons 

 of cells aggregated into tissues and organs, and that each 

 cell is constituted of an immense number of smaller elements. 

 As the number of permutations possible between the minute 

 components of the cells and between the cells themselves 

 is practically infinite, every individual differs from any 

 other individual who has ever lived, and is an unique 

 event in nature. In spite of his extreme complexity, the 

 human individual is an harmonious whole. His specific 

 characteristics come from the enormous development of the 

 cerebral system and the appearance of the mind. Memory, 

 conscience, and personality are the ultimate expressions of 

 the highest organization that a cell community has ever 

 evolved. It is through the association of myriads upon 

 myriads of nervous cells that the most prodigious form 

 of energy existing in the world manifests itself. 



The processes which bring about and maintain the whole- 

 ness of the organism seem to be purposeful. This character- 

 istic is apparent, not only in the formation of the body 

 from the ovum, but also in the regenerative mechanisms 

 which cause a lost part of an organ to grow again or a wound 

 to heal. It is also present in the processes which reestablish 

 the equilibrium of the body after it has been disturbed. 

 These adaptive mechanisms are numerous. For instance, 

 if one kidney is removed, the other enlarges. When the 

 axis of a limb is modified by the defective repair of a fracture, 



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