THE WORLD OF ATOMS 101 



which, as du Bois Raymond pointed out, 

 there was no place for life in any such sense 

 as that which I have endeavoured to depict 

 in this lecture. Recent discoveries in physics 

 and chemistry have, however, completely 

 shattered this conception, and with it that of 

 matter and energy. We now see physicists 

 and chemists groping after biological ideas. 

 No one can yet tell what conceptions will 

 emerge from the ruins of the atomic theory ; 

 but it is at least evident that the extension of 

 biological conceptions to the whole of Nature 

 may be much nearer than seemed conceivable 

 even a few years ago. When the day of that 

 extension comes the physical and chemical 

 world as we now conceive it the world of 

 atoms and energy will be recognised as no 

 thing but an appearance, though for practical 

 purposes it will still remain very useful. It 

 will stand fully confessed as a world of 

 abstractions like that of the pure mathemati 

 cians. Meanwhile it is already a world of 

 abstractions to the biologist who has faith 

 in the principle of evolution and also in 

 the fundamental conception of the living 

 organism. 



