200 WARFARE IN THE HUMAN BODY 



letters employed are translated into physical agents. 

 So far Weismann was right. But living processes work 

 out like complex mathematical equations. The Binomial 

 Theorem may be in (x+y) n in one sense, but so was Keat's 

 " Ode to the Nightingale " in the alphabet. It is common 

 among mathematicians to say such and such an equation 

 " naturally becomes " such and such, or takes another 

 form from which yet another can be deduced. This 

 " naturally becomes " is intelligible to another mathe- 

 matician, but the unlearned require the insertion of the 

 steps omitted to perceive that the change is logical. The 

 orthodox theory omits the links, and does not turn its 

 prime equation into things. There is a likeness between 

 such algebraic processes, and those which take place in the 

 living organism, for we find that if certain tools are used 

 in ovarian or embryonic stages they " naturally become " 

 varied in action, and though we may know little more of 

 a chromosomatic tool than we do of a or b in the original 

 equation, we perceive that in conjunction with other 

 activators it changes into adrenalin, thyroidin, secretin, 

 or some other regulative or directive hormone. Moreover, 

 as in mathematical reasoning we may introduce a new 

 variable while the constant remains the same, so it is with 

 the organism. The constant is protoplasm. Not all 

 organisms use iron. There are some which use manganese. 

 At some period a descendant of the ancestral amoeba 

 of the mammal picked up iron and used it. It is employed 

 in varying quantities. As evolution progressed internal 

 secretion after internal secretion came into existence, 

 determining living action. Without adrenalin the 

 mammal could not meet danger quickly. But it is 

 as absurd to argue that the mere potentiality of 

 adrenalin is a determinant in the chromosome as 



