Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/16

 lo THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

evolution of life is no longer a matter of opinion^ but of direct observa- tion. So far as law is concerned life forms are like those of the stars : their origin and development as revealed through paleontology go to prove that Aristotle was essentially right when he said that ** Nature produces those things which, being continually moved by a certain prin- ciple contained in themselves, arrive at a certain end/'** What this internal moving principle is remains to be discovered. We may first exclude the possibility that it acts either through supernatural or teleo- logic interposition ; and although its visible results are in a high degree purposeful we may exclude as unscientific the vitalistic theory of an enteleche or any other form of distinct internal perfecting agency. The fact that the principle underlying many complex forms of adaptation is still unknown, unconceived, and perhaps inconceivable, does not in- hibit our opinion that adaptation will prove to be a continuation of the previous cosmic order. Since certain forms of adaptation which were formerly mysterious can now be explained without the assumption of an enteleche, it follows that all forms of adaptation may some day be explained in the same way.

But if we reject the vitalistic hypotheses we are driven back to the necessity of further physico-chemical analysis and research.

We shall discover that the first striking phenomenon in life is the extraordinary complexity of the actions, reactions and interactions of forces which gradually evolves. This complex of four interrelated sets of physico-chemical energies which I have previously adumbrated** as the most fundamental biologic law may now be restated as follows:

Actions, Beactions and Interactiom of

1. The Cosmic Environment

(physico-chemical energies).

2. The Individual Development

(biochemical energies of the developing individual).

3. The Chromatin

(biochemical energies of the heredity sub- stance).

4. The Life Environment

(biochemical energies of other individ- uals).

This law I shall put forth in different aspects as the central thought of these lectures, stating at the outset that it involves an unknown prin-

12 Osborn, H. F., 1894, p. 56.

IS In several previous statements and definitions of this law I have termed it the law of the four inseparable factors of evolution, including environment (organic and inorganic), individual development, heredity (the chromatin) and selection. I now perceive that selection should not be included with the other factors because it is no sense coordinate. The causes of the origin and evolution of life must lie entirely within the physico-chemical and biochemical cycle. Osborn, H. F.

��Belection Competition with other in- dividuals (factors of Natural Selection and Elimination, leading to survival or extinc- tion).

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