8. APPLICATIONS AND PREDICTIONS 141 



Now we have from equation (44) of Chapter 5 the result that the thermo- 

 dynamic variable conjugate to T is given by 



^/ - aiogc,- . dXogbA 

 Using the above functions for Ci{T) and b-XT), this becomes 



For large 6, which is the state in which a law of the kind we are considering 

 might be satisfied, we have from equations (36), (37), and (40) the approxima- 

 tions 



r 



and so we get 



" '-v,d 



1=1 



2 



= ^2(2' 



a, 



Let us now write 



2n I 



the mean of the terms 



which we assume to be positive, v,- being considerably larger than a,-. We can 

 therefore write the result in the form 



TFt = nXd (92) 



Here the quantity Ft represents a sort of overall response of the cell as a 

 biochemical system to temperature, and is perhaps to be looked on as the 

 general shift in various equilibria and steady states determined by the balance 

 between endothermic and exothermic reactions and various activation energies. 

 It should be emphasized again that equation (92) is certainly not to be regarded 

 as anything other than a result of sheer speculation which serves only to show 

 how general macroscopic parameters might be related in the manner of a 

 quantitative "thermodynamic" law of cellular behaviour. Such a relation 

 would have to involve observable and measurable quantities. T is certainly 

 measurable, and we have suggested that 6 may be accessible via the rhythmic 



