REVIEWS 
The Origin and Evolution of Life on the Theory of Action and 
Interaction of Energy. By HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN. 
Charles Scribner’s Sons. Pp. xxi+322. Large 8vo. 
This striking book is an elaboration of a series of lectures given as 
the Hale Lectures of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, 
April, 1916. It is essentially an exposition of the author’s ‘‘ tetrakinetic 
theory,” perhaps the most ambitious and comprehensive causo- 
mechanical theory of evolution since that of Darwin. Unlike most 
theories of evolution, which posit life already begun and deal with its 
subsequent evolution, the present author begins with a consideration of 
the lifeless world and discusses the physicochemical factors that favored 
the origin of living matter. 
The viewpoint is avowedly dynamic and energistic throughout, and 
is therefore completely in accord with modern tendencies in biology, 
which are becoming progressively less morphological and more purely 
physiological. 
The author has called into consultation many leaders in the various 
branches of science, including physics, physicochemics, immunology, 
geophysics, geochemics, astronomy, physiography, bacteriology, cytol- 
ogy, genetics, etc. The expert opinion of this competent group has 
been focused upon the solution of the problems in hand. No important 
body of knowledge that might bear on the subject is omitted or 
evaded. 
In brief the author’s “tetrakinetic theory” of evolution is that all 
evolutionary changes are the result of the continuous interaction of four 
energy systems, two of which are intrinsic or within the organism, and 
two extrinsic or outside of the organism. These four energy systems are: 
t. Inorganic environment: the physicochemical energies of space, 
of the sun, earth, air, and water. 
2. Organism: the physicochemical energies of the developing 
individual in the tissues, cells, protoplasm, and cell-chromatin. 
3. Heredity-germ: physicochemical energies of the heredity chro- 
matin, including the reproductive cells and tissues. 
4. Life environment: physicochemical energies of other organisms. 
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