July 27, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



75 



complete. Though he, like all other physiol- 

 ogists, emploj'ed the idea of functional 

 activity as a guide in research, though 

 he -was fully aware of Cuvier's method in 

 paleontology, his just concern for the in- 

 tegrity of physiological method beguiled 

 him into declaring that "the metaphysical 

 evolutive force bj' which we may character- 

 ize life is useless in science, because, exist- 

 ing apart from phj-sical forces, it can exer- 

 cise no influence upon them. ' ' 



This, strange to say, is an old error of 

 Kant's. It is as if one should declare that 

 the idea of the periodic sj'stem of the ele- 

 ments is useless to science, because, existing 

 apart from the phj^sical forces, it can exer- 

 cise no influence upon them. What Claude 

 Bernard well knew, but failed here to point 

 out, is that organization, like the second 

 law of thermodynamics, is a condition of 

 those physio-chemical phenomena which 

 were the subject of his investigations. At 

 times, however, he stated the case more cor- 

 rectly. 



During the later years of von Baer and 

 Claude Bernard, the ideas of Darwin were 

 accomplishing a revolution in general biol- 

 ogy. Not the least important result was at 

 least temporarily to establish adaptations 

 as the most positive of realities. Yet an 

 adaptation is only to be defined in terms of 

 organization. In the orthodox Darwinian 

 view it is that which contributes to the 

 preservation of the whole. There is noth- 

 ing in its merely physical character which 

 enables us to recognize it as an adaptation. 

 Onlj- its function reveals its true nature. 



In the course of time, some of Darwin's 

 original positions have been weakened and 

 the more extreme views of his followers 

 overthrown. As a result this manner of 

 thinking about adaptation is somewhat out 

 of fashion. But it endured quite long 

 enough to leave its mark upon several de- 

 partments of the science. And it is very 

 doubtful if any one wiU be bold enough 



ever again to put aside the idea of function 

 itself or to deny its necessary implications. 



Meanwhile a number of independent lines 

 of investigation have arisen from Darwin's 

 researches. One of the most interesting of 

 these is the study of experimental morphol- 

 ogy to which Sachs gave an impetus. This 

 subject appears to have developed, partly 

 at least, as the realization of a program of 

 research founded upon Eoux's quasi-philo- 

 sophical analysis of the characteristics of 

 life. 



Such a process is a genuine curiosity in 

 the history of science. According to Roux 

 the living being may be defined as a natural 

 object which possesses nine characteristic 

 autonomous activities, e. g., autonomous ex- 

 cretion, autonomous ingestion, autonomous 

 multiplication, autonomous transmission of 

 hereditary characteristics, etc. This con- 

 ception, as Roux admits, is closely related 

 to Herbert Spencer's famous conception of 

 life as "the continuous adjustment of in- 

 ternal relations to external relations." 

 Eoux's discussion of the subject was inde- 

 pendent of Spencer's influence and, in its 

 specification of conditions, his analysis pos- 

 sesses certain advantages over the English 

 philosopher's more abstract statement. 

 But, from the standpoint of physical sci- 

 ence, it is gravely deficient in method and 

 has never been regarded as more than a 

 preliminary statement of the several physio- 

 logical aspects of the fact of organization. 



What has given Eoux's investigation a 

 certain value and infiuence is that there is 

 thus presented, however dogmatically, a 

 provisional discrimination of organic ac- 

 tivities as a basis for the experimental 

 physiological study of organization itself. 

 With the foundation of experimental 

 morphology the problem of organization 

 assumes its proper place in physiological 

 research. The experimental results of the 

 new science clearly prove that the place is 

 secure. 



