ABSTRACT
How is it possible to understand life, when the whole world is ruled by such a law as the second principle of thermodynamics, which points toward death and annihilation? This question has been asked by many scientists, and, in particular, by the Swiss physicist, C. E. Guye, in a very interesting book [L’évolution physico-chimique]. The problem was discussed at the Collège de France in 1938, when physicists, chemists, and biologists met together and had difficulty in adjusting their different points of view. We could not reach complete agreement, and at the close of the discussions there were three well defined groups of opinion :
(A) Our present knowledge of physics and chemistry is practically complete, and these physical and chemical laws will soon enable us to explain life, without the intervention of any special “life principle.”
(B) We know a great deal about physics and chemistry, but it is presumptuous to pretend that we know all about them. We hope that, among the things yet to be discovered, some new laws and principles will be found that will give us an interpretation of life. We admit that life obeys all the laws of physics and chemistry at present known to us, but we definitely feel that something more is needed before we can understand life. Whether it be called a “life principle” or otherwise is immaterial.
(C) Life cannot be understood without reference to a “life principle.” The behavior of living organisms is completely different from tha to finert matter. Our principles of thermodynamics, and especially the second one, apply only to dead and inert objects; life is an exception to the second principle, and the new principle of life will have to explain conditions contrary to the second law of thermodynamics.
