NATURE OF LIFE AND LIVING MATERIAL 27 



of knowledge that all living processes are expressions of this in- 

 tricate physico-chemical system there comes a profound realization 

 of the amazing complexity of all living forms and of the fact that 

 every character or action whether it occurs in a plant or in Man, 

 however small or apparently insignificant, in some way is the 

 result of energy transformations in a substance that is infinitely 

 more complex than any other substance or system that the human 

 mind has thus far studied. To attain this realization is to master 

 the First Principle in appreciation of the science Biology. 



But the reader will ask why he has been guided through this 

 maze of technicalities; of what practical or personal interest or 

 value are the laws of Chemistry and of Physics as exemplified in 

 protoplasm; what have the abstruse principles of surface action and 

 of colloid behavior to do with everyday life? To point out one 

 aspect should suffice. Human disease is fundamentally some sort 

 of disorder in human protoplasm. Every human is sooner or later 

 intimately concerned with disease. It is the task of the human body 

 to overcome this disorder and it is the profession of the physician 

 to assist. Intelligent understanding of the nature of protoplasm, 

 when converted into intelligent care of the body, tends to reduce 

 the probability of disorder, and the more profound the physician's 

 understanding of the workings of the protoplasmic system, the more 

 intelligent and effective are his attempts at assistance. 



Suggested Readings 



Lillie, R. S.: Protoplasmic Action and Nervous Action, ist 70 pages. 



University of Chicago Press, 1923. 

 Plunkett, C. R.: Outlines of Modern Biology. Chapters i to 4. Henry 



Holt and Company, 1930. 

 Spencer, Herbert: Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical. A. L. 



Burt Company, New York. 

 Rogers, C. G.: Textboo\ of Comparative Physiology. Chapters i to 5. 



McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1927. 

 Wells, H. G., Huxley, J. S, and Wells, G. P.: The Science of Life. 



Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1931. 



