A Hit-or-Miss Universe 



331 



were no longer connected with the 

 optic nerves. The eyes after trans- 

 plantation underwent a degeneration 

 which was followed by a complete 

 regeneration. He showed that this 

 regeneration took place in complete 

 darkness and that the transplanted eyes 

 remained normal in salamanders kept 

 in the dark for fifteen months. Lewis 

 has shown that if the optic cup is trans- 

 planted under the skin of a young larva 

 into any part of the body, the skin in 

 contact with the optic cup will form a 

 lens. It appears then that the forma- 

 tion of the lens is due to some chemical 

 substance secreted by the optic cup; 

 that the development of the eye is 

 quite independent of the brain; and 

 that it is quite independent of light. 

 It is an automatic, self -regulating 

 process. 



"Examples might be multiplied in- 

 definitely. They all indicate that ap- 

 parent morphological and instinctive 

 adaptations are merely caused by chem- 

 ical substances formed in the organism 

 and that there is no reason for postu- 

 lating the inheritance of acquired 

 characters. We must not forget that 

 there are just as many cases where 

 chemical substances circulating in the 

 body lead to indifferent or harmful 

 results." As an example of the first 

 type is heliotropism in animals living 

 in the dark, and galvanotropism in all 

 animals ; an example of the second type 

 is hereditary color-blindness in man. 



It is sometimes supposed that a 

 mystical force tends to produce har- 

 monious organisms. As a matter of 

 fact, all kinds of disharmonies are being 

 constantly produced; but they do not 

 survive and therefore we are not re- 

 minded of their possible existence. 

 Hence cases of apparent adaptation 

 prevail in nature. 



To illustrate how many possible 

 disharmonies there are in nature for 

 every harmony that exists, Dr.' Loeb 

 remarks that it is possible to fertilize 

 the eggs of practically every marine 

 bony fish with the sperm of practically 

 every other marine bony fish; and as 

 fertilization takes place more or less 

 accidentally in the water, such cross- 

 fertilizations must be constantlv occur- 



ring. If they could all develop, the 

 10,000 kinds of marine bony fish now 

 in existence would give rise to 100,- 

 000,000 new forms. But experiment 

 shows that most of th^se hybrids have 

 a defective circulation, and only a 

 fraction of 1 per cent can live. It is 

 therefore, no exaggeration to state that 

 the number of species existing today is 

 only an extremely small fraction of those 

 which can and possibly do originate, but 

 which escape notice and disappear 

 because they cannot live or reproduce. 

 From such facts. Dr. Loeb concludes 

 that the laws of chance are sufficient 

 to account for all the apparently 

 purposeful adaptations. If an intelli- 

 gence really were directing evolution, 

 it would have to stand convicted of 

 extraordinary bungling. 



THE NATURE OF DEATH 



8. It is an old saying that one cannot 

 understand life unless he understands 

 death; hence Dr. Loeb devotes his 

 last chapter to a discussion of the 

 death and dissolution of the organism. 

 The dead body undergoes disintegration ; 

 hence it was natural to argue that life 

 is that which resists this tendency to 

 disintegration. "The older observers 

 thought that the forces of nature deter- 

 mined the decay, while the vital force 

 resisted it. This idea found its tersest 

 expression in the definition of Bichat, 

 that life is the sum total of the forces 

 which resist death.'" But such talk is 

 to Dr. Loeb intolerably mystical. Ana- 

 lyze it, and nothing definite remains. 

 It offers no useful knowledge, it points 

 to no processes which can be weighed, 

 measured, or counted. "Science is not 

 the field of definition, but of prediction 

 and control. The problem is: first, 

 how does it happen that as soon as 

 respiration has ceased only for a few 

 minutes the human body is dead, that 

 is to say, will commence to undergo 

 disintegration; and, second, what pro- 

 tects the body from this decay while 

 respiration goes on, although tempera- 

 ture and moisture are such as to favor 

 decay?" 



The question recalls that problem of 

 the older biologists: why does not the 

 stomach digest itself? As a fact, it 



