PROBABILITY AND ENTROPY 153 



mere mixings and shufflings, with no element of 

 novelty except that which arises from the vast 

 number of elementary processes involved. But 

 if we now regard radiation also as a process of 

 exchange of energy between two atoms, the 

 emitting and absorbing atoms playing symmet- 

 rical parts, this obstacle is removed. 



We then find not even a shred of truth left 

 in the statement that an isolated system moves 

 toward a state of equilibrium. It will move 

 toward it and move away from it, and in the 

 long run as often in one direction as in the 

 other. It is only when we start far away from 

 the state of equilibrium, that is, when we start 

 with some state of unusual distinction, and 

 when we follow the system a little way along its 

 path, that we can state that it will, as a rule, 

 proceed toward more nondescript states. 



The second law of thermodynamics has come 

 to be regarded as one of the most powerful and 

 inexorable of nature's laws. It is beginning to 

 dominate chemistry and the biological sciences, 

 and its sway extends from the pure sciences into 

 the various domains of technology. Now, how- 

 ever, that we have looked behind the scenes, it 

 almost seems as though it were all a sham, like 

 some silly clown garbed in the ermine of roy- 



