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  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1929 
  

  

  is 
  the 
  great 
  mystery 
  and 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  life 
  the 
  greatest 
  study 
  of 
  all. 
  

   The 
  understanding 
  of 
  the 
  phenomena 
  of 
  life 
  will 
  surely 
  be 
  the 
  crowning 
  

   glory 
  of 
  science, 
  toward 
  which 
  all 
  our 
  present 
  chemical 
  and 
  physical 
  

   knowledge 
  forms 
  but 
  the 
  preliminary 
  steps. 
  

  

  Observing 
  the 
  apparent 
  freedom, 
  spontaneity 
  and, 
  indeed, 
  way- 
  

   wardness 
  of 
  many 
  forms 
  of 
  life, 
  we 
  are 
  at 
  first 
  lost 
  in 
  amazement. 
  Is 
  

   this 
  thing 
  we 
  call 
  life 
  some 
  strange 
  and 
  magical 
  intruder, 
  some 
  source 
  

   of 
  lawless 
  and 
  spontaneous 
  action, 
  some 
  fallen 
  angel 
  from 
  an 
  unknown 
  

   and 
  inconceivable 
  universe? 
  That 
  is 
  indeed 
  the 
  question 
  we 
  have 
  to 
  

   examine, 
  and 
  we 
  may 
  begin 
  our 
  examination 
  in 
  a 
  general 
  way 
  by 
  

   inquiring 
  whether 
  living 
  things 
  are 
  subject 
  to 
  the 
  laws 
  of 
  energy 
  that 
  

   control 
  the 
  mass 
  phenomena 
  of 
  the 
  inanimate 
  world. 
  The 
  first 
  of 
  

   these 
  laws, 
  known 
  as 
  the 
  law 
  of 
  the 
  conservation 
  of 
  energy, 
  says 
  that 
  

   work 
  or 
  energy 
  can 
  only 
  be 
  produced 
  at 
  the 
  expense 
  of 
  some 
  other 
  

   form, 
  and 
  that 
  there 
  are 
  definite 
  rates 
  of 
  equivalence 
  or 
  exchange 
  

   between 
  the 
  appearing 
  and 
  disappearing 
  forms 
  of 
  energy. 
  In 
  a 
  closed 
  

   system 
  we 
  can 
  make 
  up 
  a 
  balance 
  sheet, 
  and 
  we 
  find 
  that 
  the 
  algebraic 
  

   sum 
  of 
  the 
  increases 
  and 
  decreases, 
  allowing, 
  of 
  course, 
  for 
  the 
  fixed 
  

   rates 
  of 
  exchange, 
  is 
  zero. 
  That 
  was 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  discoveries 
  of 
  

   the 
  nineteenth 
  century. 
  The 
  physiologists 
  have 
  found 
  that 
  living 
  

   beings 
  form 
  no 
  exception 
  to 
  this 
  law. 
  If 
  we 
  put 
  a 
  guinea 
  pig 
  or 
  a 
  man 
  

   into 
  a 
  nutrition 
  calorimeter, 
  measure 
  the 
  work 
  and 
  heat 
  produced 
  and 
  

   the 
  energy 
  values 
  of 
  the 
  food 
  taken 
  in 
  and 
  the 
  materials 
  given 
  out, 
  we 
  

   find 
  our 
  balance 
  sheet 
  correct. 
  The 
  living 
  being 
  neither 
  destroys 
  nor 
  

   creates 
  energy. 
  One 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  apparent 
  freedom 
  or 
  spontaneity 
  of 
  

   which 
  I 
  spoke 
  is 
  gone. 
  Energy-producing 
  action 
  must 
  be 
  paid 
  for 
  by 
  

   energy 
  consumed. 
  The 
  living 
  being 
  does 
  not 
  break 
  the, 
  rules 
  of 
  

   exchange 
  that 
  govern 
  the 
  markets 
  of 
  the 
  nonliving 
  and 
  the 
  dead. 
  

  

  Another 
  great 
  discovery 
  of 
  the 
  nineteenth 
  century, 
  the 
  so-called 
  

   second 
  law 
  of 
  thermodynamics, 
  restricts 
  the 
  direction 
  of 
  energy 
  

   transformations. 
  Thus 
  a 
  large 
  tank 
  of 
  hot 
  water 
  at 
  an 
  even 
  tempera- 
  

   ture 
  will 
  not 
  be 
  found 
  to 
  cool 
  itself 
  and 
  the 
  disappearing 
  heat 
  energy 
  

   to 
  appear 
  as 
  the 
  kinetic 
  energy 
  of 
  a 
  revolving 
  flywheel 
  or 
  as 
  the 
  

   increased 
  potential 
  energy 
  of 
  a 
  raised 
  mass 
  of 
  metal, 
  no 
  other 
  changes 
  

   of 
  any 
  sort 
  having 
  taken 
  place. 
  Such 
  a 
  transformation 
  need 
  not, 
  

   however, 
  in 
  any 
  way 
  conflict 
  with 
  the 
  law 
  of 
  conservation. 
  Unco- 
  

   ordinated 
  energy 
  in 
  statistical 
  equilibrium, 
  i. 
  e., 
  of 
  even 
  potential, 
  

   does 
  not 
  spontaneously 
  transform 
  itself 
  into 
  coordinated 
  energy. 
  

   Now 
  it 
  woifld 
  be 
  a 
  discovery 
  of 
  tremendous 
  importance 
  if 
  plants 
  or 
  

   animals 
  were 
  found 
  to 
  be 
  exceptions 
  to 
  this 
  rule. 
  But, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  is 
  

   known, 
  the 
  facts 
  of 
  biology 
  and 
  physiology 
  seem 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  hving 
  

   beings, 
  just 
  like 
  inanimate 
  things, 
  conform 
  to 
  the 
  second 
  law. 
  They 
  

   do 
  not 
  live 
  and 
  act 
  in 
  an 
  environment 
  which 
  is 
  in 
  perfect 
  physical 
  and 
  

   chemical 
  equihbrium. 
  It 
  is 
  the 
  nonequilibrium, 
  the 
  free 
  or 
  available 
  

   energy 
  of 
  the 
  environment 
  which 
  is 
  the 
  sole 
  source 
  of 
  their 
  life 
  and 
  

  

  