BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 



methods in Biophysics and Biochemistry sufficient 

 to disclose the secrets of living cells and to unveil 

 the arcanum of Nature ? 



Undoubtedly nearly all the exact physiologies 1 

 knowledge that we possess is based on physical 

 and chemical methods. Every year we are con- 

 fronted with new and surprising facts in the Physics 

 and Chemistry of animate Nature entirely parallel 

 to facts in the Physics and Chemistry of inanimate 

 Nature. But my conviction is that nevertheless 

 Physiology cannot be really identical with the 

 Chemistry and Physics of living organisms. 

 If we consider the explanation of the fundamental 

 problems of Life to be the aim of Physiology, 

 Physics and Chemistry will presumably not be 

 able to fulfil this great task for themselves alone. 

 It must, however, be conceded that it becomes 

 more and more improbable that Life develops 

 forces which are unknown in inanimate Nature. 

 Life force was said to produce the host of peculiar 

 substances which in Nature occur only in living 

 organisms, and are never produced by non-living 

 bodies. These substances were called organic 

 substances. The part of Chemistry which deals 

 with organic compounds is even nowadays known 

 as Organic Chemistry. The great Chemists of 

 France were the first to show that organic com- 

 pounds are for the greater part compounds of 

 carbon. The abundance of carbon compounds in 

 the animal and plant world, the scarcity of such 



