LIFE AND SCIENCE 



Life may be called an aquatic phenomenon, be- 

 cause there can be no life without water. It may- 

 be called a thermal phenomenon, because there 

 can be no life below or above a certain degree of 

 temperature. It may be called a chemical phenom- 

 enon, because there can be no life without chemical 

 reactions. Yet none of these things define life. We 

 may discuss biological facts in terms of chemistry 

 without throwing any light on the nature of life 

 itself. If we say the particular essence of life is 

 chemical, do we mean any more than that life is 

 inseparable from chemical reactions? 



After we have mastered the chemistry of life, 

 laid bare all its processes, named all its transforma- 

 tions and transmutations, analyzed the living cell, 

 seen the inorganic pass into the organic, and be- 

 held chemical reaction, the chief priestess of this 

 hidden rite, we shall have to ask ourselves, Is chem- 

 istry the creator of life, or does life create or use 

 chemistry? These "chemical reaction complexes" 

 in living cells, as the biochemists call them, are 

 they the cause of life, or only the effect of life? We 

 shall decide according to our temperaments or our 

 habits of thought. 



