Implications of the Theories of Xenr Action ID!) 



tluit probably no biologist has dcalf witli tlu- coniij)! ioii 

 more coniprchcnsively and illuniiiiatiii<rly than Loch. Third, 

 wc find that his espousal and able treatment of tlu- tluorics 

 has led him into })ositions so tlioroiitihly or<rajiismal in both 

 essence and expression as to be quite irreconcilable with his 

 own more general elementalistic philos()])hy. 



It remains to point out more speciticallv than \\i liavr 

 wherein the organismal implications of his teacliings us ex- 

 emplified by his writings constitute a refutation of the 

 elementalistic implications of his teachings as exemplitie<l 

 by his strivings after an "ultimate exjilanation" of organic 

 phenomena in the terms of physics and chemist i- v. 



The essence of the irreconcilability of the two positions 

 may be put into a general form thus: in innumerable state- 

 ments and definitions found in his discussions of these the- 

 ories, Loeb is compelled to introduce the organism either as 

 a whole or in considerable portions, as a causal exphinatif)n 

 of particular phenomena with which he deals; and the com- 

 pulsion to such introduction makes it impossible for him or 

 any one else to dispense with the causes thus introduced by 

 resolving them into ultimate elements of any sort, whither 

 organic or inorganic. 



Illustration and justification of this general statement 

 must be given. The following typical sentence may intro- 

 duce the discussion: "The irritable structures at the sur- 

 face of the body, and the arrangement of the muscles, de- 

 termine the character of the reflex act." ''' 



Notice what it is that "determines" the character of the 

 act. "Structures" and "muscles" do it, tliese being "ar- 

 ranged" so-and-so, the irritable structures dcfinitclv on the 

 surface of the body and the nuiscles within the body. The 

 point needing special attention i^ tliat not cliennfal com- 

 pounds or even living substances but strueturcs organs — 

 and these arranged; that is, entities which neither exist nor 

 can exist except through the agency of an organism, enter 



