256 THE FITNESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT 



fare of the organism. Considering the com- 

 parative unimportance of mechanics in rela- 

 tion to the fundamental postulates, it seems 

 clear that this department has not been over- 

 looked. 



Thermal processes and thermal effects are 

 perhaps more conspicuous in the table. The 

 thermochemical characteristics of organic com- 

 pounds and the thermal properties of water 

 are all very favorable to life. Stores of heat 

 for the organism, constancy of temperature 

 of both organism and environment, the per- 

 manence of bodies of water, and a multitude 

 of other most important results flow from these 

 properties and bear witness to their unique 

 fitness. 



Sound, light, and magnetism have not been 

 considered, for they appear to bear only a 

 secondary relation to the fundamental postu- 

 lates. 



In electricity no phenomena are more im- 

 portant than those of ionization in solution. 

 To bring about ionization and thus make 

 possible electrochemical processes, water is 

 the very best medium, and the possibility of 

 such processes is probably necessary to the 

 organic mechanism. 



In addition to the topics of physical chem- 

 istry already referred to under chemistry 



