The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays Part 8

[1] _Evolution of s.e.x._ Geddes and Thomson, chap. xvi. See also a reference to Cope's theory of "Growth Force," in Wallace's _Darwinism_, p. 425.

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such phenomena arise in phases of life developed under conditions of external constraint, as will be urged more fully further on, and that in fact the special conditions of old age do not and cannot express the true law and tendency of the dynamic relations of life in the face of its evident advance upon the Earth. The law of the unconstrained cell is growth on an ever increasing scale; and although we a.s.sume the organic configuration, whether somatic or reproductive, to be essentially unstable, so that continual inflow of energy is required merely to keep it in existence, this does not vitiate the fact that, when free of all external constraint, growth gains on waste. Indeed, even in the case of old age, the statement remains essentially true, for the phenomena then displayed point to a breakdown of the functioning power of the cell, an approximation to configurations incapable of a.s.similation. It is not as if life showed in these phenomena that its conditions could obtain in the midst of abundance, and yet its law be suspended; but as if they represented a degradation of the very conditions of life, a break up, under the laws of the inanimate, of the animate contrivance; so that energy is no longer available to it, or the primary condition, "the transfer of energy into the animate system," is imperfectly obeyed. It is to the perfect contrivance of life our statement refers.

That the final end of all will be general non-availability there seems little reason to doubt, and the organism, itself dependent upon differences of potential, cannot

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hope to carry on aggregation of energy beyond the period when differences of potential are not. The organism is not accountable for this. It is being affected by events external to it, by the actions going on through inanimate agents. And although there be only a part of the received energy preserved, there is a part preserved, and this amount is continually on the increase. To see this it is only necessary to reflect that the sum of animate energy--capability of doing work in any way through animate means--at present upon the Earth, is the result, although a small one, of energy reaching the Earth since a remote period, and which otherwise had been dissipated in s.p.a.ce. In inanimate actions throughout nature, as we know it, the availability is continually diminis.h.i.+ng. The change is all the one way. As, however, the supply of available energy in the universe is (probably) limited in amount, we must look upon the two as simply effecting the final dissipation of potential in very different ways. The animate system is aggressive on the energy available to it, spends with economy, and invests at interest till death finally deprives it of all. It has heirs, indeed, who inherit some of its gains, but they, too, must die, and ultimately there will be no successors, and the greater part must melt away as if it had never been. The inanimate system responds to the forces imposed upon it by sluggish changes; of that which is thrust upon it, it squanders uselessly. The path of the energy is very different in the two cases.

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While it is true generally that both systems ultimately result in the dissipation of energy to uniform potential, the organism can, as we have seen, under particular circ.u.mstances evade the final doom altogether. It can lay up a store of potential energy which may be permanent. Thus, so long as there is free oxygen in the universe, our coalfields might, at any time in the remote future, generate light and heat in the universal grave.

It is necessary to observe on the fundamental distinction between the growth of the protoplasm and the growth of the crystal. It is common to draw comparison between the two, and to point to metabolism as the chief distinction. But while this is the most obvious distinction the more fundamental one remains in the energy relations of the two with the environment.[1] The growth of the crystal is the result of loss of energy; that of the organism the result of gain of energy. The crystal represents a last position of stable equilibrium a.s.sumed by molecules upon a certain loss of kinetic energy, and the formation of the crystal by evaporation and concentration of a liquid does not, in its dynamic aspect, differ much from the precipitation of an amorphous sediment. The organism, on the other hand, represents a more or less unstable condition formed and maintained by inflow of energy; its formation, indeed, often attended with a loss of kinetic energy (fixation of carbon in plants), but, if so, accompanied by

[1] It appears exceptional for the crystal line configuration to stand higher in the scale of energy than the amorphous.

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a more than compensatory increase of potential molecular energy.

Thus, between growth in the living world and growth in the dead world, the energy relations with the environment reveal a marked contrast. Again, in the phenomena of combustion, there are certain superficial resemblances which have led to comparison between the two. Here again, however, the att.i.tudes towards the energy of the environment stand very much as + and -. The life absorbs, stores, and spends with economy. The flame only recklessly spends. The property of storage by the organism calls out a further distinction between the course of the two processes. It secures that the chemical activity of the organism can be propagated in a medium in which the supply of energy is discontinuous or localised. The chemical activity of the combustion can, strictly speaking, only be propagated among contiguous particles. I need not dwell on the latter fact; an example of the former is seen in the action of the roots of plants, which will often traverse a barren place or circ.u.mvent an obstacle in their search for energy. In this manner roots will find out spots of rich nutriment.

Thus there is a dynamic distinction between the progress of the organism and the progress of the combustion, or of the chemical reaction generally. And although there be unstable chemical systems which absorb energy during reaction, these are (dynamically) no more than the expansion of the compressed gas.

There is a certain

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initial capacity in the system for a given quant.i.ty of energy; this satisfied, progress ceases. The progress of the organism in time is continual, and goes on from less to greater so long as its development is unconstrained and the supply of energy is unlimited.

We must regard the organism as a configuration which is so contrived as to evade the tendency of the universal laws of nature. Except we are prepared to believe that a violation of the second law of thermodynamics occurs in the organism, that a "sorting demon" is at work within it, we must, I think, a.s.sume that the interactions going on among its molecules are accompanied by r.e.t.a.r.dation and dissipation like the rest of nature. That such conditions are not incompatible with the definition of the dynamic att.i.tude of the organism, can be shown by a.n.a.logy with our inanimate machines which, by aid of hypotheses in keeping with the second law of thermodynamics, may be supposed to fulfil the energy-functions of the plant or animal, and, in fact, in all apparent respects conform to the definition of the organism.

We may a.s.sume this accomplished by a contrivance of the nature of a steam-engine, driven by solar energy. It has a boiler, which we may suppose fed by the action of the engine. It has piston, cranks, and other movable parts, all subject to resistance from friction, etc. Now there is no reason why this engine should not expend its surplus energy in shaping, fitting, and starting into action other engines:--in fact, in reproductive sacrifice. All

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these other engines represent a multiplied absorption of energy as the effects of the energy received by the parent engine, and may in time be supposed to reproduce themselves. Further, we may suppose the parent engine to be small and capable of developing very little power, but the whole series as increasing in power at each generation. Thus the primary energy relations of the vegetable organism are represented in these engines, and no violation of the second law of thermodynamics involved.

We might extend the a.n.a.logy, and a.s.suming these engines to spend a portion of their surplus energy in doing work against chemical forces--as, for example, by decomposing water through the intervention of a dynamo--suppose them to lay up in this way a store of potential energy capable of heating the boilers of a second order of engines, representing the graminivorous animal.

It is obvious without proceeding to a tertiary or carnivorous order, that the condition of energy in the animal world may be supposed fulfilled in these successive series of engines, and no violation of the principles governing the actions going on in our machines a.s.sumed. Organisms evolving on similar principles would experience loss at every transfer. Thus only a portion of the radiant energy absorbed by the leaf would be expended in actual work, chemical and gravitational, etc. It is very certain that this is, in fact, what takes place.

It is, perhaps, worth pa.s.sing observation that, from the nutritive dependence of the animal upon the vegetable,

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and the fact that a conversion of the energy of the one to the purposes of the other cannot occur without loss, the mean energy absorbed daily by the vegetable for the purpose of growth must greatly exceed that used in animal growth; so that the chemical potential energy of vegetation upon the earth is much greater than the energy of all kinds represented in the animal configurations.[1] It appears, too, that in the power possessed by the vegetable of remaining comparatively inactive, of surviving hard times by the expenditure and absorption of but little, the vegetable const.i.tutes a veritable reservoir for the uniform supply of the more unstable and active animal.

Finally, on the question of the manner of origin of organic systems, it is to be observed that, while the life of the present is very surely the survival of the fittest of the tendencies and chances of the past, yet, in the initiation of the organised world, a single chance may have decided a whole course of events: for, once originated, its own law secures its increase, although within the new order of actions, the law of the fittest must a.s.sert itself. That such a progressive material system as an organism was possible, and at some remote period was initiated, is matter of knowledge; whether or not the initiatory living configuration was rare and fortuitous, or the probable result of the general action of physical laws acting among innumerable chances, must remain matter of

[1] I find a similar conclusion arrived at in Semper's _Animal Life_, p. 52.

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speculation. In the event of the former being the truth, it is evidently possible, in spite of a large finite number of habitable worlds, that life is non-existent elsewhere. If the latter is the truth, it is almost certain that there is life in all, or many of those worlds.

EVOLUTION AND ACCELERATION OF ACTIVITY

The primary factor in evolution is the "struggle for existence."

This involves a "natural selection" among the many variations of the organism. If we seek the underlying causes of the struggle, we find that the necessity of food and (in a lesser degree) the desire for a mate are the princ.i.p.al causes of contention. The former is much the more important factor, and, accordingly, we find the greater degree of specialisation based upon it.

The present view a.s.sumes a dynamic necessity for its demands involved in the nature of the organism as such. This a.s.sumption is based on observation of the outcome of its unconstrained growth, reproduction, and life-acts. We have the same right to a.s.sert this of the organism as we have to a.s.sert that r.e.t.a.r.dation and degradation attend the actions of inanimate machines, which a.s.sertion, also, is based on observation of results. Thus we pa.s.s from the superficial statements that organisms require food in order to live, or that organisms desire food, to the more fundamental one that:

_The organism is a configuration of matter which absorbs energy acceleratively, without limit, when unconstrained._

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This is the dynamic basis for a "struggle for existence." The organism being a material system responding to accession of energy with fresh demands, and energy being limited in amount, the struggle follows as a necessity. Thus, evolution guiding' the steps of the energy-seeking organism, must presuppose and find its origin in that inherent property of the organism which determines its att.i.tude in presence of available energy.

Turning to the factor, "adaptation," we find that this also must presuppose, in order to be explicable, some quality of aggressiveness on the part of the organism. For adaptation in this or that direction is the result of repulse or victory, and, therefore, we must presuppose an attack. The attack is made by the organism in obedience to its law of demand; we see in the adaptation of the organism but the acc.u.mulated wisdom derived from past defeats and victories.

Where the environment is active, that is living, adaptation occurs on both sides. Improved means of defence or improved means of attack, both presuppose activity. Thus the reactions to the environment, animate and inanimate, are at once the outcome of the eternal aggressiveness of the organism, and the source of fresh aggressiveness upon the resources of the medium.

As concerns the "survival of the fittest" (or "natural selection"), we can, I think, at once conclude that the organism which best fulfils the organic law under the circ.u.mstances of supply is the "fittest," _ipso facto._ In many

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cases this is contained in the commonsense consideration, that to be strong, consistent with concealment from enemies which are stronger, is best, as giving the organism mastery over foes which are weaker, and generally renders it better able to secure supplies. Weismann points out that natural selection favours early and abundant reproduction. But whether the qualifications of the "fittest" be strength, fertility, cunning, fleetness, imitation, or concealment, we are safe in concluding that growth and reproduction must be the primary qualities which at once determine selection and are fostered by it. Inherent in the nature of the organism is accelerated absorption of energy, but the qualifications of the "fittest" are various, for the supply of energy is limited, and there are many compet.i.tors for it. To secure that none be wasted is ultimately the object of natural selection, deciding among the eager compet.i.tors what is best for each.

In short, the facts and generalisations concerning evolution must presuppose an organism endowed with the quality of progressive absorption of energy, and retentive of it. The continuity of organic activity in a world where supplies are intermittent is evidently only possible upon the latter condition. Thus it appears that the dynamic att.i.tude of the organism, considered in these pages, occupies a fundamental position regarding its evolution.

We turn to the consideration of old age and death, endeavouring to discover in what relation they stand to the innate progressiveness of the organism.

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THE PERIODICITY OF THE ORGANISM AND THE LAW OF PROGRESSIVE ACTIVITY

The organic system is essentially unstable. Its aggressive att.i.tude is involved in the phenomenon of growth, and in reproduction which is a form of growth. But the energy absorbed is not only spent in growth. It partly goes, also, to make good the decay which arises from the instability of the organic unit.

The cell is molecularly perishable. It possesses its ent.i.ty much as a top keeps erect, by the continual inflow of energy.

Metabolism is always taking place within it. Any other condition would, probably, involve the difficulties of perpetual motion.

The phenomenon of old age is not evident in the case of the unicellular organism reproducing by fission. At any stage of its history all the individuals are of the same age: all contain a like portion of the original cell, so far as this can be regarded as persisting where there is continual flux of matter and energy.

In the higher organisms death is universally evident. Why is this?

The question is one of great complexity. Considered from the more fundamental molecular point of view we should perhaps look to failure of the power of cell division as the condition of mortality. For it is to this phenomenon--that of cell division--that the continued life of the protozoon is to be ascribed, as we have already seen. Reproduction is, in fact, the saving factor here.

As we do not know the source or nature of the stimulus