LIFE AND LIVING BEINGS 5 



The results hitherto obtained from the study of life seem 

 but inconsiderable when compared with the time and labour 

 devoted to the question. Max Verworn exclaims, " Are we 

 on a false track? Do we ask our questions of Nature amiss, 

 or do we not read her answers aright ? " 



Each branch of science at its commencement employs only 

 the simpler methods of observation. It is purely descriptive. 

 The next step is to separate the different parts of the object 

 studied — to dissect and to analyse. The science has now 

 become analytical. The final stage is to reproduce the sub- 

 stances, the forms, and the phenomena which have been the 

 subject of investigation. The science has at last become 

 synthetical. 



Up to the present time, biology has made use only of the 

 first two methods, the descriptive and the analytical. The 

 analytical method is at a grave disadvantage in all biological 

 investigations, since it is impossible to separate and analyse 

 the elementary phenomena of life. The function of an organ 

 ceases when it is isolated from the organism of which it forms 

 a part. This is the chief cause of our lack of progress in the 

 analysis of life. 



It is only recently that we have been able to apply the 

 synthetic method to the study of the phenomena of life. Now 

 that we know that a living organism is but the arena for the 

 transformation of energy, we may hope to reproduce the 

 elementary phenomena of life, by calling into play a similar 

 transformation of energy in a suitable medium. 



Organic chemistry has already obtained numerous victories 

 in the same direction, and the rapid advance in the produc- 

 tion of organic bodies by chemical synthesis may be considered 

 the first-fruits of synthetic biology. v 



A phenomenon is determined by a number of circumstances 

 which we call its causes, and of which it is the result. Every 

 phenomenon, moreover, contributes to the production of other 

 phenomena which are called its consequences. In order there- 

 fore to understand any phenomenon in its entirety, we must 

 determine all its causes both qualitatively and quantitatively. 



Phenomena succeed one another in time as consequences 



