But it is not in the crystalloidal multimolecule, but in the larger
and more complex multimolecule of colloids (viscid substances like
gum arabic, gelatine, agar-agar, white of egg, etc.), that Moore
professes to see a sort of intermediate between the cell and inorganic
units. Such colloids form with a dispersing medium (like water) an
emulsion, in which the dispersed particles, known as ultramicrons or
“solution aggregates,” are larger than monomolecules. It is among
these multimolecules of colloids that Moore would have us search for
a transitional link connecting the cell with the inorganic world.
Borrowing Herbert Spencer’s dogma of the complication of homogeneity
into heterogeneity, he asserts that such colloidal multimolecules
would tend to become more and more complex, and consequently more and
more instable, so that their instability would gradually approach the
chronic instability or constant state of metabolic fluxion manifest in
living organisms. The end-result would be a living unit more simply
organized than the cell, and evolution seizing upon this submicroscopic
unit would, in due time, transform it into cellular life of every
variety and kind. _Ce n’est que le premier pas qui coûte!_
It should be noted that this so-called law is a mere vague formula
like the “law” of natural selection and the “law” of evolution. The
facts which it is alleged to express are not cited, and its terms
are far from being quantitative. It is certainly not a law in the
sense of Arrhénius, who says: “Quantitative formulation, that is,
the establishing of a connection, expressed by a formula, between
different quantitatively measurable magnitudes, is the peculiar feature
of a law.” (“Theories of Chemistry,” Price’s translation, p. 3.) Now,
chemistry, as an exact science, has no lack of laws of this kind, but
no branch of chemistry, whether physical, organic, or inorganic, knows
of any _law of complexity_, that can be stated in either quantitative,
or descriptive, terms. We will, however, let Moore speak for himself:
“It may then be summed up as a general law universal in its application
to all matter, ... a law which might be called the Law of Complexity,
that matter so far as its energy environment will permit tends to
assume more and more complex forms in labile equilibrium. Atoms,
molecules, colloids, and living organisms, arise as a result of the
operations of this law, and in the higher regions of complexity it
induces organic evolution and all the many thousands of living forms....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account