340 



ORGANISATION IN SPACE AND TIME 



of a reaction in cycle B increases a particular rate of a 

 reaction in cycle A (Fig. 34). 



As we see from the diagram, the boundaries of such an 

 open system are no less than the surface separating the ocean 

 from the atmosphere all over the world. And the author 

 does indeed consider that in the first stage of evolution there 

 were no discrete systems, there was only one living thing, 

 the ' metabolising ocean '. If the problem is formulated in 

 this way, however, one can hardly speak (as the author does) 

 of any ' natural selection ' of systems. 



Fig. 34. Diagram of the interaction of cata- 

 lytic cycles (after Yeas). Explanation in text. 



The Japanese scientist M. Sugita" takes an opposing view. 

 He bases his approach to the problem of the origin of life 

 on a study of thermodynamically irreversible reactions in 

 open systems and holds that it is on the basis of these very 

 processes that there must have occurred the formation of 

 molecular swarms and fluctuations leading to the develop- 

 ment of coacervate structures. 



As we saw on p. 326, any open system must have definite 

 boundaries separating it from the external medium, which 

 are represented in the scheme given by dotted lines. This is 

 necessary because if any form of energy is to be made to do 

 useful work there must be a spatial separation of the com- 

 ponents of the system, and this is determined by its structural 



