144 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 4 



axiomatic; heredity, for example, is for biology not a problem but 

 an axiom. " The problem of physiology is not to obtain piecemeal 

 physico-explanations of physiological processes " (I quote from the 

 1885 address), "but to discover by observation and experiment the 

 relatedness to one another of all the details of structure and activity 

 in each organism as expressions of its nature as one organism." I 

 cannot pretend adequately to discuss these views here. They have 

 often been discussed by others, not always perhaps with understand- 

 ing. Wliat is true in them is subtle, and I doubt if their author has 

 ever found the right words in which to bring to most others a con- 

 viction of such truth. It is involved in a world outlook. What I 

 think is scientifically faulty in Haldane's teaching is the a priori 

 element which leads to bias in the face of evidence. The task he sets 

 for the physiologist seems vague to most people, and he forgets that 

 with good judgment a study of parts may lead to an intellectual 

 synthesis of value. In 1885 he wrote : " That a meeting point be- 

 tween biology and physical science may at at some time be found 

 there is no reason for doubting. But we may confidently predict 

 that if that meeting point is found, and one of the two sciences is 

 swallowed up, that one will not be biology." He now claims, indeed, 

 that biology has accomplished the heavy meal because physics has 

 been compelled to deal no longer with Newtonian entities but, like 

 the biologist, with organisms such as the atom proves to be. Is it 

 not, then, enough for my present purpose to remark on the significance 

 of the fact that not until certain atoms were found spontaneously 

 splitting piecemeal into parts, and others were afterward so split in 

 the laboratory, did we really know anything about the atom as a 

 whole ? 



At this point, however, I will ask you not to suspect me of claim- 

 ing that all the attributes of living systems or even the more obvious 

 among them are necessarily based upon chemical organization alone. 

 I have already expressed my own belief that this organization will 

 account for one striking characteristic of every living cell — its abil- 

 ity, namely, to maintain a dynamic individuality in diverse environ- 

 ments. Living cells display other attributes even more characteristic 

 of themselves; they grow, multiply, inherit qualities and transmit 

 them. Although to distinguish levels of organization in such 

 systems may be to abstract from reality it is not illogical to believe 

 that such attributes as these are based upon organization at a level 

 which is in some sense higher than the chemical level. The main 

 necessity from the standpoint of biochemistry is then to decide 

 whether nevertheless at its own level, which is certainly definable, 

 the results of experimental studies are self-contained and consistent. 



