6 Introduction 



Donnan (1929) is convinced that the energy transformations of 

 living cells conform with the first and second laws of thermody- 

 namics,'*' but believes that the mechanism for the harmonious co- 

 ordination of organs and tissues is still a mystery. Pike (1929) 

 grants that the first law of thermodynamics clearly applies to 

 organisms but asserts that some doubt may exist about the second. 

 However, he concludes that the second law does apply and that the 

 entrance of sunlight into plants and its utilization as a source of 

 energy are spontaneous processes. Life on the earth depends on 

 radiant energy from the sun. The origin of life Pike believes to be 

 associated with the appearance of certain carbon compounds which 

 are capable of yielding energy at certain stages in stellar evolution. 

 Oxidative processes are spontaneous and drive organisms on to in- 

 creasing complexity. "The arrest of energy degradation in living 

 nature is indeed a primary biological concept. Related to it, and of 

 equal importance, is the concept of organization" (Hopkins, 1933). 



Many thoughtful persons who have discussed the origin of life 

 believe that organisms first came into existence in the sea. Rogers 

 (1928) points out that living things must have originated when the 

 temperature of the earth was between the freezing point of water 

 and the coagulating point of proteins, when short wave lengths of 

 light were more abundant than at present. He believes that col- 

 loidal particles in water were bombarded and that, associated with 

 adsorption on colloidal interfaces, simple compounds of carbon, 

 oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen were built up. In such a simple 

 system phosphorus, sulphur, iron, and other elements were included. 

 A catalyst of simple type helped the early colloid to become an 

 energy transformer. Chlorophyll, though complex, is such a sub- 

 stance. Rogers believes that there was not one origin, but that 



*FiRST Law: When mechanical work is transformed into heat or heat into work, 

 the amount of work is always equivalent to the quantity of heat. 



Second Law: It is impossible by any continuous self-sustaining process for heat 

 to be transferred from a colder to a hotter body. 



