﻿MYSTERY 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  DONNAN 
  315 
  

  

  tron, 
  and 
  seems 
  to 
  offer 
  more 
  promise 
  of 
  determinism 
  than 
  did 
  that 
  

   uneasy 
  ghost. 
  Thus 
  determinism 
  in 
  the 
  rigorous 
  sense 
  of 
  the 
  word 
  is 
  

   no 
  infalhble 
  dogma 
  of 
  science. 
  It 
  would 
  not 
  be 
  surprising 
  if 
  it 
  did 
  

   not 
  exist 
  in 
  the 
  minute 
  phenomena 
  of 
  the 
  world, 
  since 
  the 
  apparent 
  

   determinism 
  of 
  events 
  on 
  a 
  greater 
  scale 
  is 
  often 
  only 
  the 
  result 
  of 
  a 
  

   very 
  high 
  degree 
  of 
  statistical 
  probability. 
  Be 
  that 
  as 
  it 
  may, 
  the 
  

   investigations 
  of 
  general 
  physiology, 
  so 
  far 
  pursued, 
  indicate 
  that 
  the 
  

   elementary 
  phenomena 
  of 
  life 
  are 
  quite 
  as 
  fully 
  deterministic 
  as 
  

   phenomena 
  on 
  a 
  corresponding 
  scale 
  of 
  magnitude 
  in 
  the 
  inanimate 
  

   physicochemical 
  world. 
  

  

  Let 
  us 
  now 
  make 
  the 
  daring 
  supposition 
  that 
  general 
  physiology, 
  

   following 
  the 
  lead 
  of 
  Claude 
  Bernard, 
  has 
  eventually 
  succeeded 
  in 
  

   quantitatively 
  analyzing 
  every 
  side 
  and 
  every 
  aspect 
  of 
  the 
  elementary 
  

   condition 
  of 
  life. 
  Would 
  such 
  a 
  supposedly 
  complete 
  and 
  quantitative 
  

   analysis 
  give 
  us 
  a 
  synthesis 
  of 
  life? 
  That 
  is 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  funda- 
  

   mental 
  and 
  difficult 
  questions 
  of 
  biological 
  science. 
  A 
  living 
  being 
  is 
  

   a 
  dynamically 
  organized 
  individual, 
  all 
  the 
  parts 
  of 
  which 
  work 
  har- 
  

   moniously 
  together 
  for 
  the 
  well-being 
  of 
  the 
  whole 
  organism. 
  The 
  

   whole 
  appears 
  to 
  us 
  as 
  something 
  essentially 
  greater 
  than 
  the 
  sum 
  

   total 
  of 
  its 
  parts. 
  This 
  aspect 
  of 
  the 
  living 
  individual 
  was 
  fully 
  recog- 
  

   nized 
  by 
  Claude 
  Bernard. 
  It 
  has 
  been 
  emphasized 
  recently 
  by 
  General 
  

   Smuts 
  in 
  his 
  remarkable 
  book 
  on 
  Holism 
  and 
  Evolution. 
  Life, 
  as 
  

   seen 
  by 
  General 
  Smuts, 
  is 
  constantly 
  engaged 
  in 
  developing 
  wholes, 
  

   that 
  is 
  to 
  say, 
  organized 
  individualities. 
  We 
  may 
  indeed 
  learn 
  how 
  

   the 
  regulative 
  and 
  integrating 
  action 
  of 
  the 
  nervous 
  system, 
  so 
  beauti- 
  

   fully 
  and 
  thoroughly 
  investigated 
  by 
  that 
  great 
  physiologist. 
  Sir 
  

   Charles 
  Sherrington, 
  serves 
  to 
  organize 
  and 
  unite 
  together 
  in 
  a 
  har- 
  

   monious 
  whole 
  the 
  varied 
  activities 
  of 
  a 
  complex 
  multicellular 
  animal. 
  

   We 
  may 
  learn, 
  too, 
  how 
  those 
  chemical 
  substances, 
  the 
  hormones, 
  

   discovered 
  by 
  Bayliss 
  and 
  Starling, 
  are 
  secreted 
  by 
  the 
  ductless 
  glands 
  

   and, 
  circulating 
  in 
  the 
  milieu 
  interieur 
  of 
  an 
  animal, 
  act 
  as 
  powerful 
  

   means 
  for 
  harmoniously 
  regulating 
  and 
  controlling 
  the 
  growth 
  and 
  

   other 
  activities 
  of 
  the 
  various 
  organs 
  and 
  tissues. 
  Nevertheless, 
  in 
  

   spite 
  of 
  these 
  great 
  discoveries, 
  the 
  harmonious 
  and 
  dynamic 
  correla- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  the 
  various 
  organs 
  and 
  tissues 
  of 
  a 
  living 
  organism 
  ever 
  con- 
  

   fronts 
  us 
  as 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  mysteries 
  of 
  life. 
  In 
  an 
  inanimate 
  physico- 
  

   chemical 
  system 
  we 
  think, 
  if 
  we 
  know 
  the 
  situations, 
  modes 
  of 
  action 
  

   and 
  interrelations 
  of 
  the 
  component 
  parts, 
  whether 
  particles 
  or 
  waves 
  

   (or 
  both), 
  together 
  with 
  the 
  boundary 
  conditions 
  of 
  the 
  system, 
  that 
  

   we 
  have 
  effected 
  a 
  complete 
  synthesis 
  of 
  the 
  whole. 
  Though 
  very 
  

   crudely 
  expressed, 
  some 
  such 
  view 
  as 
  that 
  lies 
  at 
  the 
  basis 
  of 
  the 
  New- 
  

   tonian 
  philosophy 
  which 
  rules 
  our 
  thought 
  in 
  the 
  inanimate 
  physico- 
  

   chemical 
  world. 
  Is 
  the 
  organized 
  dynamical 
  unity 
  of 
  a 
  living 
  organ- 
  

   ism 
  something 
  fundamentally 
  new 
  and 
  different? 
  Confronted 
  by 
  a 
  

   problem 
  of 
  this 
  order 
  of 
  difficulty, 
  it 
  behooves 
  us 
  to 
  be 
  patient 
  and 
  to 
  

  

  