Evening star., 1938-01-01
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Does an egg remember?
Generation after generation living
forms repeat themselves with minute
variations.
The clearest analogy. said DR.. Frank
S. Lille. president of the National Acad-
envy of Sciences, in his vice presidential
address before the American Association
at indianapolis. is to the memory of
man or animal which makes it possible
to repeat acts almost invariably and
automatically.
In some way pattern is grooved in
the brain, as river grooves pattern in
the land over which 1t flows. Now, DR.
Lille stressed, the egg from which all
living things come also repeats its be-
havior automatically in the same way.
Hen eggs make hens. Mouse eggs make
mice. They remember from generation
after generation how to organize ma
terials from the external universe into
specific patterns, so that one hen or one
mouse differs from another hen or an
other mouse only in minute details.
But for a pattern to be grooved, the
biologist said, requires some solid, i'm
presslonable vet semi-permanent me-
dium, such as the wax of record or the
gray matIer OF tfle Draln
What factors have the two processes
in common?" he asked. THE general or
verifiable fact is that the germ of any
species, under normal external condi-
tions repeats the same sequence Of
transformation over and over again. We
infer that there is some permanent fea-
ture of germinal structure or constitu-
ton which makes this possible. Accord
ing to evolutionary theory this special
constitution has been acquired by slow
degrees in the past, partly under the in
fiuence OF environmental conditions.
Once having been laid down this or
ganlzation persists and forms the con-
dition for a constant or uniformly re-
curing type of formative activity The
similarity to the repetition of learned
or remembered routine becomes obvious.
"A simple rule applies here. If the
erect OF any action is to persist as a
record, demonstrable to an observer, part
OF its energy must be applied in such a
way as to cause permanent and def
nitely localized change of state in some
durable material that can be examined
later. Any recording material must
therefore combine Elasticity with dur
ability. In general such material is solid
material. The physical character of
solidity is conference, elastic resistance
to the displacement of parts. In gen.
eral we regard solidity and the persist
ence of special structural characters as
one and the same property. Are mem
ory records, or the organizational rec
ords latent in the germ, to be regarded
as records laid down in solid material?
AT present 1t is customary to con-
slider solid as equivalent to crystalline
or microcrystalline. Optical and other
evidence shows that crystalline structure
depends on the conference of similar
molecules in similarly oriented aggre-
gates. Is there any meaning in regard
ing molecules themselves as solid struc-
lures. Structural formulae do in fact
represent molecules as solid in the sense
of consisting of stable parts, atoms,
which cohere in definite pattern. These
constant interconnections are regarded
as determining the special properties of
the substance.
''The permanence of complex molecules
like protein molecules is permanence
of structural constitution. If such mole
cules are sufficiently large and complex,
and also have what correspond to plastic
properties, they may serve as tablets on
which records may be laid down. Sub
groups may undergo substitution or