INTRODUCTORY COMMENT 

 K. Hartline 



Rockefeller Institute, New York 21, N. Y. 



From what I have heard today, I gather that photosynthesis is now 

 completely understood. We can leave that subject and go on to the 

 next in this symposium on Light and Life. It is easy to persuade 

 ourselves and probably reasonable enough that the almost complete 

 dependence of the living world on photosynthesis will result in the 

 evolution of useful mechanisms to bring living organisms into favora- 

 ble relations with their lighted environment. Plants photosynthesize; 

 animals consume the plants or prey on other animals w^hich consume 

 the plants. This notion from high school biology serves as a useful 

 excuse for leading into our next topic in the symposium. 



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