Evening star., 1938-06-29
OF STARS
MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science PROGRESS
in Field, Laboratory
and Study.

Notebook OF Science Progress
in Field, Laboratory
and Study.
By THOMAS. r. HENRY.
OTTAWA, June 2sALife is something
more than a physical l-chemical-m
chanical conglomerate.
Thus spoke Dr. Frank r. Lille, presi-
dent of the National Academy Of Sciences
at Washington, professor of zoology at
the University of Chicago, and one of the
foremost living experimentalists In the
life sciences, before the American As
ISOLATION for the Advancement of Science
here last night.
The head Of the Senate Of American
Science" said emphatically that biol
ogists no longer can accept purely
mechanistic view Of the rise of life from
crawling things in the sea ooze OF half
billion years ago to man and the higher
animals in terms Of reactions explain
able by physics and chemistry and that
the doctrine of evolution still is in its
infancy SO far as explaining first causes
Is concerned.
Mechanistically, he explained, the
loWlieSt organisms, such as the prOto-
zoan or the tuberculosis germ, are as
complex as man himself, and represent
as great q degree Of advancement along
this line. The real evolution, he stressed,
has been in terms of biological organi-
zation-the conglomeration Of the sim.
pier units of life into complex, inter-
acting systems with highly specialized
functions, such as a human being.
Beyond the physical and chemical sub
strata common to all life, he stressed
living things possess creative side
shown in a tendency to depart from
routine and to produce novel action or
organization, for which we have at pres
ent no physical analogy. The creative
side is best shown in evolution, in in
dividual development, and in the course
Of experience, behavior and education"
"The evolution Of organisms as we
know it," DR.. Lille continued, lis an
historical process in terms Of geological
time. This statement, If fully appre-
hended, fairly poses the difficulty Of
physico- chemical analysis or organiza-
ton. What is more impressive than the
duration Of frail living matter, showing
a stability far greater than the physio-
graphic features of the earth's surface,
unless it be the richness of its evolution
within the period Of its duration. With
respect to these essential biological
problems the biological sciences are still
in a period Of early infancy"
Out of the original form Of life, DR..
Lille said. there are now known approx
imately $50 900 species Of animals alone.
This list, including all life forms extinct
and extant, soon may exceed 1,000, 900 as
taxonomists discover new types. he pre-
dicted.
The problem of whether man can i'm
prove the course Of his own evolution
by birth control and selective breeding,
DR.. Lille said, remains unsolved and
he proposed institutes specially devoted
to human genetics for the sake of the
medical as well as the social problems
involved.
Our knowledge of human heredity,"
he declared, lis quite rudimentary as
compared with our knowledge of
heredity In fruit flies and guinea pigs.
And even If We felt sure that our knowl-
edge Of the principles Of heredity in
lower animals is theoretically fully ap-
plicable to mankind, we would not know
how to apply 1t eugenically except in
AA1Oce 6C1ACAo4 tCALAc, AOI LLcIC dIC no
pure lines in human inheritance, for one
thing, and we have no animal analogies
to the human qualities Of character that
We most need in the social progress.
Biological opinion is even divided on
negative eugenics, the elimination of the
unfit, not so much on the general desir-
ability as on the definition of unfltness,
the determination Of standards and the
methods to be employed. Sociological
and political opinion also is divided
sharply on the trends Of existing social,
economic and political selective proc
esses as they affect the population"
In discussions of evolution, DR.. Lille
explained, there is apt to be confusion
between micro" and "macro" evolution.
The first is that which takes place in an
observable period Of time and which can
be made the subject of biological ex-
periments- as the introduction Of
new hereditary characters into animals
by subjecting them to intensive X-radia-
ton, which alters the constitution or ar
rangement of the genes" the supposed
units Of heredity.
"Macro-evolution," on the other hand,
is that which takes place over millions
Of years and brings about such major
results as the rise of man or the extinc-
ton Of the mammoth.
1T is difficult to believe" DR.. Lille
said. that the gene theory Is capable of
explaining macro-evolution, the great
trends covering geological ages At pres
ent the theory of the gene enjoys a cer-
tain pre-eminence, for causes other than
genetic affecting the hereditable quail
ties OF individuals and populations have
not been demonstrated in spite of much
research.
Perhaps the solution Of these diff
culties may be met by some as yet un-
imagined extension Of the genetic theory,
perhaps by some entirely different kind
Of discovery"
There is a tidal ebb and surge in
whatever it is that keeps men going.
Experiments demonstrating this were
reported to psychologists here yesterday
by DR.. B. r. Philip Of the University of
Toronto.
He set dozen college men at the
rather inane Job Of tapping as fast as
they could on a brass key. They raced
each other. This is q common expert
ment in psychological laboratories to
test the curve of fatigue, and usually
lasts six or seven minutes, long enough
for most persons to be thoroughly tired.
These tests almost always show that
the more tired one gets the slower the
tapninr