160 Inside the Living Cell 



number of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen together 

 in a particular way, we obtain the vivid blue dye, methylene blue. We 

 could not have suspected from what we knew of these atoms that, 

 when combined in this way, they would exhibit this property. Never- 

 theless, once we have the dye, we may be able to account for its pro- 

 perties in terms of the atoms and their mode of combination. We can, 

 for example, account for the colour as due to the oscillation of elec- 

 trons in a particular cyclic molecular framework, and this can be 

 'explained' in terms of the electronic structure of the atoms them- 

 selves. If necessary we may and we frequently must add to our de- 

 scription of the atoms in order to enable us to account for methylene 

 blue and other substances in terms of them, but we could hardly have 

 predicted methylene blue (or other dyes) if we were completely ig- 

 norant of its existence and behaviour. 



We can well believe that the ability to produce such dyes is implicit 

 in the atoms of carbon, nitrogen, etc, but it lies dormant until such 

 compounds are actually made. We can say that a new property, the 

 vivid blue colour, emerges in a particular combination. While the pos- 

 sibility is implicit in the atoms, it is essentially a property of the 

 wliole of the combination and not of its separate parts. 



In just the same way we see new kinds of behaviour emerging at the 

 different levels of life, which could hardly have been predicted if only 

 the simpler systems which are made use of were known. 



The new level of organization can be analysed into its component 

 mechanisms, and the new organization is implicit in the components, 

 but nevertheless when it has been achieved, something new has 

 appeared, which is more than the sum of the separate mechanisms of 

 which it is made up. 



From this point of view, we see, as Bergson did in his concept of 

 emergent evolution, that in the course of evolution there has not only 

 been an increase of complexity of the parts, but also the emergence 

 of new properties, which although they are potentially present in the 

 simpler systems, do not really exist until they are actually produced 

 and when they are achieved are essentially more than the isolated 



parts. 



Therefore, although we are entitled to see in life a mechanical pro- 

 cess, a consequence of the natural combining possibilities of atoms 

 when supplied with energy, leading to the formation of self-per- 

 petuating compounds which can make use of solar energy and impose 

 their pattern on the environment and thus give rise to ever more and 

 more complex organizations, yet we must also see this as providing a 

 basis for the emergence of new 'wholes' with types of behaviour 

 which we should not have suspected, although they were nevertheless 



