Appendix
2
Biology and Time-Binding
THE life of one man
is short, and to very few is it given to achieve much in their lifetime.
Extensive achievements are made almost entirely by many men taking
up the work done by a discoverer. In such a case, we arrive at a
complete "truth," not by the production of one man but by
a chain of men, but the initial discovery not only has to be produced
but correctly defined before it can be used and that is the important
point to be made. What we do not realize is the tremendous amount
of mental work that is lost by an incorrect use of words.
Human thought-that
unique, subtle and yet most energetic phenomenon of nature-is in
the main wantonly wasted, because we do not use, or take pains to
use, suitable language; at the same time, false definitions lead
to consequences not merely wasteful but positively harmful. When
ideas and facts are falsely defined, they tend to bring us to false
conclusions, and false conclusions lead us in wrong directions,
and life and knowledge greatly suffer in consequence. Our progress
is not a well ordered pursuit after truth, as pure chance plays
too large a part in it.
Until lately, logic
was supposed to be the science of correct thinking, but modern thought
has progressed so far that the old logic is not able to handle the
great accumulated volume -the great complicated mass of existing
ideas and facts-and so we are forced to look for another instrument
much more expedient and powerful. There is no need to establish
a new science to replace logic; we simply have to look closer into
the sciences at hand and realize the fact, which was with us all
the time, namely, that mathematics and mathematical reasoning is
nothing else than the true logic of nature -nature's universal tongue-the
one means of expression that is the same for all peoples. This is
not a play on words, it is a fact which, after investigation, everybody
must admit. Everybody who wants to think logically must think mathematically
or give up any pretense of correct thinking-there is no escape and
all who refuse to investigate the justice of this statement put
themselves outside the pale of logically thinking people. The application
of rigorous thinking to life will even revolutionize scientific
methods by the introduction of right definitions, correct classifications,
just language, and so will lead to trustworthy results. Very probably
all our doctrines and creeds will have to be revised; some rejected,
some rectified, some broadened; bringing about unanimity of all
sciences and thus greatly increasing their effectiveness in the
pursuit of truth. This application of mathematics to life will even
revolutionize mathematics itself. In App. I it is suggested tentatively
how this may be accomplished.
As the seemingly ultimate
and highest experimentally known energy is the human time-binding
energy, this new concept may lead to a change in our present concepts
of matter, space and time, in much the same way as the discovery
of radium has affected them. This problem can be solved only by
scientific experiments with the time-binding energy.
In many, even in most,
of the cases, the analysis of these phenomena presents great technical
difficulty, but why confuse our minds by being afraid of, or being
a slave of words? If instead of calling wine wine, we called
it by its chemical formula, would this, in any way, change the quality
of wine? Of course not. All the "qualities" will remain because
they are facts, and cannot be altered by words.
A most pathetic picture
of the havoc and chaos which wrong use of words brings into life
and science is exhibited in all fields of thought by the endless
and bitter fighting over words not well defined. Mathematics has
been able to make its most stupendous achievements because of its
method of exact analysis of the continuum, dimensions, classes,
relations, functions, transfinite numbers, etc., and also of space
and time. Hitherto, not all of these conceptions in their sharply
defined form have had direct application to our daily life or to
our world conception. The thoughts expressed in App. I may suggest
this "missing link"-connecting mathematics more intimately with
life.
Modern science knows
that all energies can be somehow transformed from one kind to another
and that all of them represent one type of energetic phenomena,
no matter what is the origin of each. For example, a galvanic or
chemical battery produces the same kind of electricity as the mechanical
process of friction or the interaction of cosmic laws as in the
dynamo. In some instances, when our systems are suitably adjusted,
the transformations are reversible, that is, the energy results
in a chemical process-an accumulator; the chemical process results
in electricity-the galvanic battery; motion results in electricity-the
dynamo; electricity results in motion-the electric motor; etc. We
know all energies are somehow related to each other, in that their
transformation is possible. The effects produced by the same type
of energy are absolutely the same-no matter what its origin. The
marvel of an electric lamp is the same marvel, whether the origin
of the electricity be chemical, mechanical or cosmic as in the dynamo.
The experiments in scientific biology have proved this to be true
in living organisms and just this is the tremendous importance of
the discoveries in scientific biology. Light and other energies
react on organisms in the same way as the chemical reactions and
these phenomena are reversible. More than that, living complex organisms
have been produced which grew to maturity through a chemical or
mechanical treatment of the egg, and this has been accomplished
in the infancy of scientific biology! (See The Organism as a
Whole, by Jacques Loeb.)
All phenomena in
nature are natural and should be approached as such.
The human mind is at least an energy which can direct other
energies; it is incorrect and misleading to call it supernatural.
It is of course true that we do not fully understand the nature
of the human mind and we shall learn to understand it when and only
when we acquire sense enough to recognize it as natural.
If we persist in saying and believing that the "spiritual evidences
cannot be explained on a material base," this statement should be
equally applicable to electricity or radium. If this statement is
false for these phenomena, it is equally false for the mind or the
so-called spiritual and will powers. The scientific understanding
of these phenomena will not "degrade" these phenomena, because
that cannot be done. Facts remain facts and no scientific explanation
of a phenomenon can lower or degrade that which is a fact. Electricity
is electricity and nothing else, no matter what its origin; human
time-binding energies (embracing all faculties) are the highest
of the known energies-equally magnificent and astonishing-no matter
what the base; and the scientific understanding of them will only
add to our respect for them and for ourselves; it will unmistakably
help us to develop them indefinitely by mathematical analysis. The
base is not the phenomenon- sulphuric acid and zinc are
not electricity; time-binding energies are not a pound
of beefsteak, although a pound of beefsteak may help to save life
and be therefore instrumental in the production of a poem
or of a sonata; but by no means can a beefsteak be taken for either
of them.
I have attempted,
with some measure of success I trust, to solve these problems in
science and life; the results are astonishing, as they lead us to
a much higher and more embracing ethics than society has ever had.
By this analysis I prove that the understanding of this most stupendous
but NATURAL phenomenon of human life brings us to the scientifical
source of ethics and I prove that the so-called "highest ideals
of humanity" have nothing of "sentimentalism" or of the "supernatural"
in them, but are exclusively the fulfilment of the natural
laws for the human class of life. The recognition of
the fact that the phenomena of the human mind are natural and as
such conform to natural law has the further advantage over the "supernatural"
attitude in that we can no more evade a law of human nature than
the law of gravity; in other words, human ethics will have the validity
of natural law. With the supernatural attitude, it was simple enough
to avoid the issues of life, by a simple statement-"I do not believe"-and
that was enough to break all bonds and be free from the "supernatural
morale"-but to get away from the "natural morale" and remain
HUMAN is IMPOSSIBLE. Whereas, with an artificially formulated
morale it was easy enough to break away by a simple mental speculation,
and feel perfectly satisfied as long as one escaped the jail; with
a morale made clear that it is a NATURAL LAW for the human class
of life, the curtain of sophistry and speculation is removed and
everyone who breaks away from the NATURAL LAWS FOR HUMANS, WILL
KNOW BY HIMSELF, THAT HE IS OUTSIDE THE LAW-FOR HUMANS.
Engineers are not
metaphysicians, their field is not one of clever argument but one
of proved facts; their work is not to befog the air with cloudy
expressions or sophistry, but to create; their method is scientific
and their tool is mathematics. It is known that in remote antiquity,
in some temples electrical phenomena were known and were used to
keep the ignorant masses in awe and obedience. Shall we follow the
methods used by those magicians or shall we squarely face facts?
Shall we look upon life, and the usually so-called mental, spiritual
phenomena, etc., as supernatural, simply because we do not
understand them? It seems evident that everything which exists
in nature, is natural, no matter how simple or complicated a
phenomenon it is; and on no occasion can the so-called "supernatural"
be anything else than a completely natural law, though it may, at
the moment, be above or beyond our present understanding. The attitude
of mind which admits the supernatural blinds and frustrates
any analysis or any attempt at analysis. The unprejudiced analysis
of the so-called "supernatural" does not alter any part of
the strange and high functions of it. The phenomena of the human
time-binding energy are and will remain the most precious, subtle
and highest of known functions, no matter what the origin. Facts
may not be denied or falsified if analysis is
to arrive at correct conclusions. The high dimensionality of the
human mind, the so-called spiritual and will powers, are facts
and must be accepted as such. It is about time to establish
an exact science to deal with them. The problems of animal life
were approached without prejudice, no supernatural "spark" was bothering
us in our analysis -an animal was an animal and nothing else-we
did not intermix dimensions, therefore we see that the "social structure"
of the animals on a farm never breaks down as they are managed on
a scientific base with an understanding of their proper standards.
Animals to-day live more happily than man. We don't allow animals
to practice the "survival of the fittest," or "competition," which
is far too destructive. Our present social system imposes these
disastrous methods upon man alone, and the result is that the hideous
proverb "Homo homini lupus" has become true.
In modern science
facts are not wanting, we have first but to know them. If we take,
for example, sulphuric acid and zinc and make what we call a galvanic
battery, we see that from two chemical substances a third-a salt-is
made in addition to which we have a peculiar energy produced called
electricity. Who does not know the marvelous properties of this
phenomenon ?
Scientific biology
has made tremendous progress lately; engineers cannot afford to
ignore the facts established in laboratory researches. The problem
of "life" and of other energies, hitherto considered "supernatural,"
is well in hand, and proves to be none the less astonishing though
entirely natural. A number of scientists all over the world are
working at this problem and the scientific facts which they have
established, and which cannot now be denied, belong to-day to the
realm of practical life. Engineers, of course, have to know these
facts; mathematicians have to establish correct dimensions in the
study of all the sciences and people will have to study mathematical
philosophy; only then can the process of integration in any phase
of thought be made without mistakes. There is no escape from that,
if truth is what we really want. But here one objection may
be raised, an objection which for some is a serious one indeed;
namely, what will take the place of the old philosophy, law and
ethics, if human life is nothing else than a physico-chemical process?
To quote Doctor Jacques Loeb from his Mechanistic Conception
of Life: "If on the basis of a serious survey, this question
(that all life phenomena can be unequivocally explained in physico-chemical
terms-Author) can be answered in the affirmative, our social
and ethical life will have to be put on a scientific basis and our
rules of conduct must be brought into harmony with the results of
scientific biology. Not only is the mechanistic conception of life
compatible with ethics, it seems the only conception of life which
can lead to an understanding of the source of ethics."
I hope to have proved
in this book that scientific ethics is based on natural laws
for the human class of life; that it is based on the experimentally
proved fact that Man is a Time-binder, naturally active as such
in time; and that this concept or definition of Man is rigorously
scientific and accounts for the highest functions of man-the highest
of the mental and spiritual perfections-without the need of any
"supernatural" hypothesis.
Scientific biology
proves the fact that life and all of its phenomena are the results
of some special physico-chemical processes, which manifest themselves
in some peculiar energies, of which the human mind is the highest
known form. These processes are known to be reversible, in that
some of these peculiar energies cause physico-chemical changes in
their own base; the process involved I propose to call biolysis,
as I propose to call biolyte the substances produced. These phenomena
have a parallel analogy in inorganic chemistry-in electricity-the
difference being only in the scale or dimension. When an electric
current is passed through a special battery called an accumulator
or reversible battery, chemical changes occur, in that new compounds
are formed which possess a reversible capacity; namely, in reproducing
the former materials-that is, electricity is generated. This process
of forming chemical substances by the passing of an electrical current
is called electrolysis and the product so produced is called electrolyte.
At the same time it is a known fact that organic chemistry is infinitely
more complicated and variable than inorganic chemistry. The energy
produced by the reactions of some organic chemical groups are, therefore,
of a more complicated character and of another dimension. One of
these energies of organic chemistry which lately has come into the
scope of scientific analysis is called life-its physico-chemical
base is the protoplasm, which result I call the "time-linking"
capacity or energy. This name is important for the consequences
it will bring about later on. The time-binding capacity or energy
of man ( no matter what time is-if it is), which is unique to man,
is a most subtle complex; it is the highest known energy and probably
has many subdivisions. Ears are sensitive to the vibration of the
air. Eyes are sensitive to the more subtle vibrations of light;
in a similar way, the time-binding apparatus is sensitive to the
most subtle energies; besides which it has the capacity to register
not only all of our sensations but also the time-binding energies
of other people; and it apparently has the capacity to register
the energies of the universe.
Here again we see
the same continuity of phenomena; the protoplasm as a complex organic
physico-chemical unit which has the peculiarity to "live," to grow
and multiply "autonomously" and this same autonomous peculiarity
applies to the time-binding energy; it grows and multiplies
"autonomously" in its own dimension. The time-binding energy is
a complex radiating energy somewhat like the emanations of radium
and it probably also has many different subdivisions. Note that
the transformation of the atom or the transformation of radio-active
substances after passing different stages, is not complete but probably
ends in lead, whereas the transformation which occurs in the production
of the time-binding energy probably is complete or nearly complete
and is that which I call the time-binding energy.. (See App. I.)
All the higher characteristics of man which it is customary to call
the "mental, spiritual and will powers," etc., are embraced in this
exact definition of energy-in the capacity of time-binding. A diagram
will better explain the continuity, evolution and mechanism of this
time-binding energy.
C1
is the physico-chemical base (for simplicity I represent the whole
complex as one base) of the human time-binding energy. T1
is the thought produced by a physico-chemical process (corresponding,
for illustration's sake only, to electricity produced by a galvanic
battery). The thought T1 in turn produces a physico-chemical
effect E1 on the base Cl (corresponding
for the same reason to electrolysis and electrolyte in electricity).
Cl and E1 combined, or C2
produces T2 which again in turn affects the base
and produces a physico-chemical effect E2, this
new combination produces the energy T3, and so
on . . . theoretically without limits, as long as there is any
source of energy upon which this special energy can draw. This
theory which I call the "spiral theory" represents a suggestive
working mechanism of the time-binding energy and is in accord with
the latest scientific discoveries. It explains the processes of
all the mental and so-called spiritual energies which have been
such a puzzle to humanity, and it also explains other phenomena
which, until now, have had no scientific explanation whatever.
The animals are not
time-binding, they have not the capacity of the "spiral";
therefore, they have not autonomous progress. At the same time,
it will be obvious that if we teach humans false ideas, we affect
their time-binding capacities and energies very seriously, by affecting
in a wrong way the physico-chemical base. This energy is so peculiar
that it embraces, if I may use the old expression, the highest ideals
(when the time-binding energy is unobstructed and is allowed to
work normally), and also the most criminal ideas (when the time-binding
energy is obstructed by false teachings and in consequence works
abnormally). We cannot make animals moral or immoral because they
have not this time-binding capacity. Whereas human progress can
be very seriously affected by false ideas; in other words, the biolyte
of false teachings in the animal dimension must be very different
from the biolyte of true ideas in the human dimension. Nature or
nature's laws happily cannot be completely deviated from or violated-the
time-binding energy cannot be completely suppressed in the time-binding
class of life. The false teachings that we are animals and essentially
brutal and selfish can, of course, degrade human nature not only
down to the animal level but lower still. Happily now science can
explain and prove how fundamentally fiendish in effect are these
teachings in the life and progress of human beings. It will be a
shock to those who teach, preach and practice animal standards and
in the same breath contradict themselves in any talking about "immortality"
and "salvation"; a little thought makes it perfectly clear that
"animal standards" and "salvation" or "immortality" simply exclude
each other. With the natural law of time-binding realized, the way
is open to entering scientifically upon the problem of immortality.
The time-binding energies as well as "life" follow the same type
of exponential function. "The constant synthesis then of specific
material from simple compounds of a non-specific character is the
chief feature by which living matter differs from non-living matter....
This problem of synthesis leads to the assumption of immortality
of the living cell, since there is no a priori reason why
this synthesis should ever come to a standstill of its own accord
as long as enough food is available and the proper outside physical
conditions are guaranteed.... The idea that the body cells are naturally
immortal and die only if exposed to extreme injuries such as prolonged
lack of oxygen or too high a temperature helps to make one problem
more intelligible. The medical student, who for the first time realizes
that life depends upon that one organ, the heart, doing its duty
incessantly for the seventy years or so allotted to man, is amazed
at the precariousness of our existence. It seems indeed uncanny
that so delicate a mechanism should function so regularly for so
many years. The mysticism connected with this and other phenomena
of adaptation would disappear if we would be certain that all cells
are really immortal and that the fact which demands an explanation
is not the continued activity but the cessation of activity in death.
Thus we see that the idea of the immortality of the body cell if
it can be generalized may be destined to become one of the main
supports for a complete physico-chemical analysis of life phenomena
since it makes the durability of organisms intelligible...." (The
Organism as a Whole, by Jacques Loeb.)
The outlook for those
who live and profess selfish, greedy, "space-binding animal standards"
is not very promising as disclosed by the "spiral," but unhappily
we cannot help them; only time-binding-only fulfilling the natural
laws for humans-can give them the full benefit of their natural
capacities by which they will be able to raise themselves above
animals and their fate.
The results obtained
in scientific biological researches are growing very rapidly and
every advance in their knowledge proves this theory to be true.
If they differ in a few instances it is not because the principles
of this theory are wrong, but because they intermix dimensions and
use words not sufficiently defined which always results in confusion
and the checking of the progress of science.
Most of the problems
touched upon in this appendix from a mathematical point of view
are based upon laboratory facts. We have only to collect them and
there is little need of imagination to see their general bearing.
Since we have discovered the fact that Man is a time-binder (no
matter what time is) and have introduced the sense of dimensionality
into the study of life phenomena in general, a great many facts
which were not clear before become very clear now.
I wrote this book
on a farm without any books at hand and I had been out of touch
with the progress of science for the five years spent in the war
service and war duties. My friend Dr. Grove-Korski, formerly at
Berkeley University, drew my attention particularly to the books
of Dr. Jacques Loeb. I found there a treasury of laboratory facts
which illustrate as nothing better could, the correctness of my
theory. I found with deep satisfaction that the new "scientific
biology" is scientific because it has used mathematical methods
with notable regard to dimensionality-they do not "milk an automobile."
For the mathematician
and the engineer, the "tropism theory of animal conduct," founded
by Dr. J. Loeb, is of the greatest interest, because this is a theory
which analyses the functions and reactions of an organism as
a whole and therefore there is no chance for confusion of ideas
or the intermixing of dimensions.
"Physiologists have
long been in the habit of studying not the reactions of the whole
organism but the reactions of isolated segments; the so-called reflexes.
While it may seem justifiable to construct the reactions of the
organism as a whole from the individual reflexes, such an attempt
is in reality doomed to failure, since the reactions produced in
an isolated element cannot be counted upon to occur when the same
element is part of the whole, on account of the mutual inhibitions
which the different parts of the organism produce upon each other
when in organic connection; and it is, therefore, impossible to
express the conduct of a whole animal as the algebraic sum of the
reflexes of its isolated segments.... It would, therefore, be a
misconception to speak of tropism as of reflexes, since tropisms
are reactions of the organism as a whole, while reflexes are reactions
of isolated segments. Reflexes and tropisms agree, however, in one
respect, inasmuch as both are obviously of a purely physico-chemical
character." Forced Movements-Tropism and Animal Conduct.
By Jacques Loeb.
I will quote here
only a very few passages, but these books are of such importance
that every mathematician and engineer should read them. They are,
if I may say so, a "mathematical biology"-the survey of a life long
study of "tropisms," which is the name given to express "forced
movements" in organisms. They give the quintessence of laboratory
experiments as to what are the effects of different energies such
as light (heliotropism), electricity (galvanotropism), gravity (geotropism),
etc., in their reaction and influence upon the movements and actions
of living organisms. These experiments are conclusive and the conclusions
arrived at cannot be overlooked or evaded. The tremendous practical
results of such scientific methods are based upon two principles,
namely: that, (1) the scientists must think mathematically, their
studies of the phenomena must be in "systems" as a complex whole,
and they must not intermix dimensions; (2) they must see the danger
and not be afraid of old words with wrong meanings, but must use
clear and rigorous thinking to eliminate the prejudices in science-the
poison of metaphysical speculating with words, or verbalism. These
books give ample proofs of how misleading and obscuring are the
words used and how basically wrong are the conclusions arrived at
by such scientists as still persist in using the anthropomorphic
or teleological methods of analysis. If a sceptical or doubtful
reader is interested to see an ample proof of how deadly is the
effect which an incorrect or unmathematical manner of thinking brings
into science and life-he also may be referred to these books. The
following quotations prove biologically that man is of a totally
different dimension-a totally different being than an animal. From
Dr. Conklin I quote only from his Heredity and Environment and
to save a repetition of the title of the book, I will indicate the
quotations by using only his name. (All italics are indicated by
A. K.)
"It would be of the
greatest importance to show directly that the homologous proteins
of different species are different. This has been done for hemoglobins
of the blood by Reichert and Brown, who have shown by crystallographic
measurements that the hemoglobins of any species are definite substances
for that species.... The following sentences by Reichert and Brown
seem to indicate that this may be true for the crystals of hemoglobin.
'The hemoglobins of any species are different substances for
that species. But upon comparing the corresponding substances
hemoglobins in different species of a genus it is generally found
that they differ the one from the other to a greater or less degree;
the differences being such that when complete crystallographic data
are available the different species can be distinguished by
these differences in their hemoglobins'. . . . The facts
thus far reported imply the suggestion that heredity of the genus
is determined by the proteins of a definite constitution differing
from the proteins of other genera. This constitution of the proteins
would therefore be responsible for the genus heredity. The different
species of a genus have all the same genus proteins, but the proteins
of each species of the same genus are apparently different again
in chemical constitution and hence they may give rise to the specific
biological or immunity reactions." The Organism as a Whole,
by Jacques Loeb.
"All peculiarities
which are characteristic of a race, species, genus, order, class
and phylum are of course inherited, otherwise there would be
no constant characteristics of these groups and no possibility of
classifying organisms. The chief characters of every living thing
are unalterably fixed by heredity. Men do not gather grapes of thorns
nor figs of thistles. Every living thing produces off-spring after
its own kind, Men, horses, cattle; birds, reptiles, fishes; insects,
mollusks, worms; polyps, sponges, micro-organisms,-all of the million
known species of animals and plants differ from one another because
of inherited peculiarities, because they have come from different
kinds of germ cells." Conklin.
"The entire organism
consisting of structures and functions, body and mind, develops
out of the germ, and the organization of the germ determines all
the possibilities of development of the mind no less than of the
body, though the actual realization of any possibility is dependent
also upon environmental stimuli." . . Conklin.
"The development of
the mind parallels that of the body; whatever the ultimate
relation of the mind and body may be, there can be no
reasonable doubt that the two develop together from the
germ. It is a curious fact that many people who are seriously disturbed
by scientific teaching as to the evolution or gradual development
of the human race accept with equanimity the universal observation
as to the development of the human individual,-mind as well as body.
The animal ancestry of the race is surely no more disturbing to
philosophical or religious beliefs than the germinal origin of the
individual, and yet the latter is a fact of universal observation
which cannot be relegated to the domain of hypothesis or theory,
and which can not be successfully denied.... Now we know that the
child comes from the germ cells which are not made by the bodies
of the parents but have arisen by the division of the antecedent
germ cell. Every cell comes from a pre-existing cell by a
process of division, and every germ cell comes from a pre-existing
germ cell. Consequently it is not possible to hold, that the
body generates germ cells, nor that the soul generates souls. The
only possible scientific position is that the mind or soul
as well as the body develops from the germ.
"No fact in human
experience is more certain than that the mind develops by gradual
and natural processes from a simple condition which can scarcely
be called mind at all; no fact In human experience is fraught with
greater practical and philosophical significance than this, and
yet no fact is more generally disregarded." Conklin.
"Doubtless the elements
of which consciousness develops are present in the germ
cells, in the same sense that the elements of the other psychic
processes or of the organs of the body are there present, not as
a miniature of the adult condition, but rather in the form of elements
or factors, which by long series of combinations and transformations,
due to interactions with one another and with the environment, give
rise to the fully developed condition.... It is an interesting fact
that in man, and in several other animals which may be assumed to
have a sense of identity, the nerve cells, especially those of the
brain, cease dividing at an early age, and these identical
cells persist throughout the remainder of life." . . .
"The hen does not
produce the egg, but the egg produces the hen and also other eggs.
Individual traits are not transmitted from the hen to the egg, but
they develop out of germinal factors which are carried along from
cell to cell, and from generation to generation. . . ."
"The germ is the undeveloped
organism which forms the bond between successive generations; the
person is the developed organism which arises from the germ under
the influence of environmental conditions, the person develops and
dies in each generation; the germ-plasm is the continuous stream
of living substance which connects all generations. The person nourishes
and protects the germ, and in this sense the person is merely the
carrier of the germ-plasm, the mortal trustee of an immortal
substance." Conklin.
This is what I call
"time-linking." (Author.)
"Through intelligence
and social cooperation he is able to control environment for particular
ends, in a manner quite impossible in other organisms.... Other
animals develop much more rapidly than man but that development
sooner comes to an end. The children of lower races of man develop
more rapidly than those of higher races but in such cases they also
cease to develop at an earlier age. The prolongation of the period
of infancy and of immaturity in the human race greatly increases
the importance of environment and training as factors of development."
Conklin.
Another sidelight
given on the "Spiral theory." (Author.)
"In education also
we are strangely blind to proper aims and methods. Any education
is bad which leads to the formation of habits of idleness, carelessness,
failure, instead of habits of industry, thoroughness and success.
Any religious or social institution is bad which leads to habits
of pious make-believe, insincerity, slavish regard for authority
and disregard for evidence, instead of habits of sincerity, open-mindedness
and independence. . . ."
"All that man now
is he has come to be without conscious human guidance. If evolution
has progressed from the amoeba to man without human interference,
if the great progress from ape-like men to the most highly civilized
races has taken place without conscious human control, the question
may well be asked: Is it possible to improve on the natural method
of evolution? It may not be possible to improve on the method of
evolution and yet by intelligent action it may be possible to facilitate
that method. Man can not change a single law of nature but he
can put himself into such relations to natural laws that he can
profit by them." Conklin.
This proves the great
importance of KNOWING THE NATURAL LAWS for the human class of life,
and making natural time-binding impulses conscious, for then only
will the spiral give a logarithmical accumulation of the right kind,
otherwise the biolyte will be "animal" in substance as well as in
effect. Here it is immaterial how the first "time-binder" was produced;
the fact that he is of another dimension is of the greatest importance.
"From sands to stars,
from the immensity of the universe to the minuteness of the electron,
in living things no less than in lifeless ones, science recognizes
everywhere the inevitable sequence of cause and effect, the universality
of natural processes, the reign of natural law. Man also is a
part of Nature, a part of the great mechanism of the universe,
and all that he is and does is limited and prescribed by laws
of nature. Every human being comes into existence by a process
of development, every step of which is determined by antecedent
causes.... Our anatomical, physiological, psychological possibilities
were predetermined in the germ cells from which we came...."
Conklin.
This shows the importance
of keeping the study of humans in their own dimensionality, and
also the importance of finding the IMPERSONAL NATURAL LAWS for the
human class of life. Now it can be realized that all the so-called
human ideals are none else than the ever growing fulfillment of
the NATURAL TIME-BINDING LAWS. This understanding will enable man
to discover new "time-binding" laws for their conduct, their business
relations, their state, which will not be a contradiction of the
real, NATURAL LAWS but will be in accord with them; then and only
then human progress will have a chance to develop peacefully.
"Adult characteristics
are potential and not actual in the germ, and their actual appearance
depends upon many complicated reactions of the germinal units with
one another and with the environment. In short, our actual personalities
are not predetermined in the germ cells, but our possible personalities
are.... I he influence of environment upon the minds and morals
of men is especially great. To a large extent our habits, words,
thoughts; our aspirations, ideals, satisfactions; our responsibility,
morality, religion are the results of the environment and education
of our early years.... "
"Owing to this vastly
greater power of memory, reflection and inhibition man IS much freer
than any other animal. Animals which learn little from experience
have little freedom and the more they learn the freer they become....
" Conklin.
It may be added here
that the "spiral theory" explains how our reactions can be accelerated
and elaborated by ourselves, and how truly we are the masters of
our destinies.
"Because we can find
no place in our philosophy and logic for self determination shall
we cease to be scientists and close our eyes to the evidence? The
first duty of science is to appeal to fact and to settle later with
logic and philosophy.... " Conklin.
There will be no difficulty
in the settlement of facts with the new philosophy of "Human Engineering."
"The analysis of instinct
from a purely physiological point of view ultimately furnishes the
data for a scientific ethics. Human happiness is based upon the
possibility of a natural and harmonious satisfaction of the instincts....
It is rather remarkable that we should still be under the influence
of an ethics which considers the human instincts in themselves low
and their gratification vicious. That such an ethics must have had
a comforting effect upon the orientals, whose instincts were inhibited
or warped through the combined effects of an enervating climate,
despotism and miserable economic conditions is intelligible, and
it is perhaps due to a continuation of the unsatisfactory economic
conditions that this ethics still prevails to some extent.... Lawyers,
criminologists and philosophers frequently imagine that only want
makes man work. This is an erroneous view. We are instinctively
forced to be active in the same way as ants or bees. The instinct
of workmanship would be the greatest source of happiness if it were
not for the fact that our present social and economic organization
allows only a few to satisfy this instinct. Robert Mayer has pointed
out that any successful display or setting free of energy is a source
of pleasure to us. This is the reason why the satisfaction of the
instinct of workmanship is of such importance in the economy of
life, for the play and learning of the child, as well as for the
scientists or commercial work of the man.... We can vary at will
the instincts of animals. A number of marine animals . . . go away
from the light, can be forced to go to light in two ways, first
by lowering the temperature and second by increasing the concentration
of the sea water, whereby the cells of the animals lose water. This
instinct can be again reversed by raising the temperature or by
lowering the concentration of the sea water. I have found repeatedly
that by the same conditions by which phenomena of growth and organization
can be controlled the instincts are controlled also. This indicates
that there is a common basis for both classes of life phenomena.
This common base is the physical and chemical character of the mixture
of substances which we call protoplasm.
. . . The greatest
happiness in life can be obtained only if all instincts,
that of workmanship included, can be maintained at a certain optimal
intensity. But while it is certain that the individual can ruin
or diminish the value of its life by a onesided development of its
instincts, e.g., dissipation, it is at the same time true that the
economic and social conditions can ruin or diminish the value
of life for a great number of individuals. It is no doubt true
that in our present social and economic conditions more than ninety
per cent of human beings lead an existence whose value is far below
what it should be. They are compelled by want to sacrifice a number
of instincts especially the most valuable among them, that of workmanship,
in order to save the lowest and most imperative, that of eating.
If those who amass immense fortunes could possibly intensify their
lives with their abundance, it might perhaps be rational to let
many suffer in order to have a few cases of true happiness. But
for an increase of happiness only that amount of money is of service
which can be used for the harmonious development and satisfaction
of inherited instincts. For this, comparatively little is necessary.
The rest is of no more use to a man than the surplus of oxygen in
the atmosphere. As a matter of fact, the only true satisfaction
a multimillionaire can possibly get from increasing his fortunes,
is the satisfaction of the instinct of workmanship or the pleasure
that is connected with a successful display of energy. The scientist
gets this satisfaction without diminishing the value of life of
his fellow being, and the same should be true for the business man....
Although we recognize no metaphysical free-will, we do not deny
personal responsibility. We can fill the memory of the young generation
with such associations as will prevent wrong doing or dissipation....
Cruelty in the penal code and the tendency to exaggerate punishment
are sure signs of a low civilization and of an imperfect educational
system.... It seems to me that we can no more expect to unravel
the mechanism of associative memory by histological or morphological
methods than we can expect to unravel the dynamics of electrical
phenomena by microscopic study of cross-sections through a telegraph
wire or by counting and locating the telephone connections in a
big city. If we are anxious to develop a dynamic of the various
life-phenomena, we must remember that the colloidal substances are
the machines which produce the life phenomena, but the physics of
these substances is still a science of the future.... Physiology
gives us no answer to the latter question. The idea of specific
energy has always been regarded as the terminus for the investigation
of the sense organs. Mach expressed the opinion that chemical conditions
lie at the foundation of sensation in general.... " Comparative
Physiology of the Brain, by Jacques Loeb.
Here it may be added
that the "Instinct of Workmanship" in the animal class, becomes
in the time-binding class of life the instinct of creation,
and is nothing else than the expression of the natural impulse of
the "Time-binding" energy. In the present social and economic system
very few have a possibility to satisfy this instinct; scientific
management is or may be satisfying the animal instinct of workmanship,
but it is not satisfactory to the instinct of creation. "Time-binding"
in its last analysis is creation and only such a social and economic
system as will satisfy this want-this natural impulse-will satisfy
Humans-the "Time-binders"-and will bring about their fullest growth
in work and happiness.
"LAWS OF GROWTH" (from
Unified Mathematics, by Louis C. Karpinski, Ph.D.). "Compound
interest function.-The function S=P(1+i)n
is of fundamental importance in other fields than in finance.
Thus the growth of timber of a large forest tract may be expressed
as a function of this kind, the assumption being that in a large
tract the rate of growth may be taken as uniform from year to year.
In the case of bacteria growing under ideal conditions in a culture,
i.e. with unlimited food supplied, the increase in the number
of bacteria per second is proportional to the number of bacteria
present at the beginning of that second. Any function in which the
rate of change or rate of growth at any instant t is directly
proportional to the value of the function at the instant t obeys
what has been termed the 'law of organic growth,' and may be expressed
by the equation,
y = cekt
wherein
c and k are constants determined by the physical
facts involved, and e is a constant of nature analogous
to . The constant k is the proportionality constant and
is negative when the quantity in question decreases; c
is commonly positive;
e=2.7182....
"The
values of the function of x, cekx,
increase according to the terms of a geometrical progression
as the variable x increases in arithmetical progression. . .
.
"The most immediate
application of a function in which the growth is proportional to
the function itself is to the air. The decrease in the pressure
of the air at the distance h above the earth's surface is
proportional to h.
"The expression P=
gives the numerical value of the pressure
in millimeters of mercury for h measured in meters. The
negative exponent indicates that the pressure decreases as h
increases. In inches as units of length of the mercury column,
h in feet,
P=
This
is known as Halley's law.
"The growth of bean
plants within limited intervals and the growth of children, again
between quite restricted limits, follow approximately the law of
organic growth. Radium in decomposing follows the same law; the
rate of decrease at any instant being proportional to the quantity.
In the case of vibrating bodies, like a pendulum, the rate of decrease
of the amplitude follows this law; similarly in the case of a noise
dying down and in certain electrical phenomena, the rate of decrease
is proportional at any instant to the value of the function at the
instant....
"The Curve of Healing
of a Wound.-Closely allied to the formulas expressing the law
of organic growth, y = ekt, and the law
of 'organic decay,' y=e-kt, is a recently discovered
law which connects algebraically by an equation and graphically
by a curve, the surface-area of a wound, with time expressed in
days, measured from the time when the wound is aseptic or sterile.
When this aseptic condition is reached, by washing and flushing
continually with antiseptic solutions, two observations at an interval
commonly of four days give the 'index of the individual,' and this
index, and the two measurements of area of the wound-surface, enable
the physician-scientist to determine the normal progress of the
wound-surface. the expected decrease in area, for this wound surface
of this individual. The area of the wound is traced carefully on
transparent paper, and then computed by using a mathematical machine,
called a planimeter, which measures areas.
"The areas of the
wound are plotted as ordinates with the respective times of observation
measured in days as abscissas. After each observation and computation
of area the point so obtained is plotted to the same axes as the
graph which gives the ideal or prophetic curve of healing.
"When the observed
area is found markedly greater than that determined by the ideal
curve, the indication is that there is still infection in the wound....
A rather surprising and unexplained situation occurs frequently
when the wound-surface heals more rapidly than the ideal curve would
indicate; in this event secondary ulcers develop which bring the
curve back to normal.....
"This application
of mathematics to medicine is largely due to Dr. Alexis Carrel of
the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research. He noted that the
larger the wound-surface, the more rapidly it healed, and that the
rate of healing seemed to be proportional to the area. This proportionality
constant is not the same for all values of the surface or we would
have an equation of the form,
S=S1e-
kt
in which S,
is the area at the time that the wound is rendered sterile and observations
to be plotted really begin....
"The data given are
taken from the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reprints kindly
furnished by Major George A. Stewart of the Rockefeller Institute.
The diagrams are reproduced from the issue of Feb. 1, 1918, pp.
171 and 172, article by Dr. T. Tuffier and R. Desmarres, Auxiliary
Hospital 75, Paris. . . .
"WAVE MOTION. General.-In
nature there are two types of recurrent motion, somewhat closely
connected mathematically, in which repetition of motion occurs at
regular intervals.
"One type of this
motion, in cycles as we may say, repeats the motion in one place,
and is in a sense stationary. The tuning fork in motion moves through
the same space again and again; a similar movement is the motion
of a vibrating string. Of this stationary type may be mentioned
the heartbeats, the pulse, the respiration, the tides, and the rotation
of a wheel about its axis.
"The second type of
recurrent motion transmits or carries the vibratory impulse over
an extent of space as well as time. The waves of the sea are of
this character. Sound waves, electrical vibrations or waves, and
radiant energy vibrations are transmitted by a process similar to
that by which the waves of the sea are carried.
"Both of these types
of motion are representable mathematically by equations involving
a sequence of trigonometric functions. To the fundamental and basic
function involved, y= sin x, we will direct our attention
in the next section and to simple applications in other sections
of this chapter....
"Sound Waves.-If a
tuning fork for note lower C is set to vibrating, the free bar makes
129 complete, back-and-forth, vibrations in one second. By attaching
a fine point to the end of the bar and moving under this bar at
a uniform rate, as it vibrates, a smoke-blackened paper, a sinusoidal
curve is traced on the paper. Our curve is traced by a bar vibrating
50 times in 1 second.
The curve y =
sin(50 2t)
Tuning fork vibrations
recorded on smoked paper....
"Corresponding
to each movement of the vibrating rod there is a movement of
the air. As the bar moves to the right it compresses the layer
of air to its right and that compression is immediately
communicated to the layer of air to the right; as the bar moves
back and to the left, the pressure on the adjacent air is released
and a rarefaction takes place. In 
of 1 second you have the
air adjacent to the rod compressed, back to normal, and
rarefied; during this time the neighboring air is affected
and the compression is communicated a distance which is the
wave length of this given sound wave. In 1 second this
disturbance is transmitted 1100 feet at 44° Fahrenheit. The
wave length for this sound wave then is
= 22 feet.
"The wave length is
commonly designated by l. If V is the velocity. and t
the time of one vibration. l = Vt.
"Vibration
records produced by the voice: 'a' as in 'ate'; 'ou' as in 'about';
'r' in 'relay'; 'e' in 'be'; and 'a' in 'father.' The tuning
fork record, frequency 50 per second, gives the vibration frequencies.
. . ."
This last drawing
may help to visualize the fact in what manner wrong expressions
and untrue teachings hamper the true progress of humanity. Every
word has its energy and produces some physico-chemical effects in
the time-binding apparatus in accord with the idea which we associate
with the sound of the word. If we teach ideas which are untrue,
then the physico-chemical effects produced are not proper- in other
words the human mind does NOT WORK PROPERLY, that is, it does not
work naturally or normally or true to the human dimension.
There is every reason why the standards in our civilization are
so low, because we have "poisoned," in a literal sense of the word,
our minds with the physico-chemical effects of wrong ideas. This
correct NATURAL APPROACH to the "Time-binding" energies will make
it obvious how unmeasured is the importance of the manner in which
we handle this subtle mechanism, as the poisoning with wrong ideas
or with careless or incorrect words does not in any way differ in
consequences from poisoning with any other stupor-producing or wrongly
stimulating poison.
MONOGRAPHS ON EXPERIMENTAL
BIOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY
LOEB, J.: Comparative
Physiology of the Brain and Comparative Psychology." New York, 1900.
LOEB, J.: "Studies
in General Physiology." Chicago, 1905.
LOEB, J.: "The Dynamics
of Living Matter." New York, 1906.
LOEB, J.: "The Mechanistic
Conception of Life." Chicago, 1912.
CONTENTS
I. The Mechanistic
Conception of Life.
II. The Significance
of Tropisms for Psychology.
III. Some Fundamental
Facts and Conceptions concerning the Comparative Physiology of the
Central Nervous System.
IV. Pattern Adaptation
of Fishes and the Mechanism of Vision..
V. On Some Facts and
Principles of Physiological Morphology.
VI. -On the Nature
of the Process of Fertilization.
VII. On the Nature
of Formative Stipulation (Artificial Parthenogenesis).
VIII. The Prevention
of the Death of the Egg through the Act of Fertilization.
IX. The Role of Salts
in the Preservation of Life.
X. Experimental Study
of the Influence of Environment on Animals.
LOEB, J.: The Organism
as a Whole. G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York. 1916.
CONTENTS
I.
Introductory Remarks.
II. The Specific Difference
between Living and Dead Matter and the Question of the Origin of
Life.
III. The Chemical
Basis of Genus and Species:
1. The Incompatibility
of Species not Closely Related.
2. The Chemical basis
of Genus and Species and of Species Specificity.
IV. Specificity in
Fertilization.
V. Artificial Parthenogenesis.
VI. Determinism in
the Formation of an Organism from an Egg.
VII. Regeneration.
VIII. Determination
of Sex, Secondary Sexual Characters and Sexual Instincts:
1. The Cytological
Basis of Sex Determination.
2. The Physiological
Basis of Sex Determination.
IX. Mendelian Heredity
and its Mechanism.
X. Animal Instincts
and Tropisms.
XI. The Influence
of Environment.
XII. Adaptation to
Environment.
XIII. Evolution.
XIV. Death and Dissolution
of the Organism.
LOEB, J.: "Forced
Movements, Tropisms, and Animal Conduct." T. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia,
1918.
CONTENTS
I.
Introduction.
II. The Symmetry Relations
of the Animal Body as the Starting Point for the Theory of Animal
Conduct.
III. Forced Movements.
IV. Galvanotropism.
V. Heliotropism. The
Influence of One Source of Light.
1. General Facts.
2. Direct Proof of
the Muscle Tension Theory of Heliotropism in Motile Animals.
3. Heliotropism of
Unicellular Organisms.
4. Heliotropism of
Sessile Animals.
VI. An Artificial
Heliotropic Machine.
VII. Asymmetrical
Animals.
VIII. Two Sources
of Light of Different Intensity.
IX. The Validity of
the Bunsen-Roscoe Law for the Heliotropic Reactions of Animals and
Plants.
X. The Effect of Rapid
Changes in Intensity of Light.
XI. The Relative Heliotropic
Efficiency of Light of Different Wave Lengths.
XII. Change in the
Sense of Heliotropism.
XIII. Geotropism.
XIV. Forced Movements
Caused by Moving Retina Images: Rheotropism: Anemotropism.
XV. Stereotropism.
XVI. Chemotropism.
XVII. Thermotropism.
XVIII. Instincts.
XIX. Memory Images
and Tropisms.
A list of 554 books
on this subject, in which any reader interested will find a
vast storehouse of exact knowledge in this line. Author.
CONKLIN, EDWIN GRANT:
Heredity and Environment in the Development of Men." Princeton University
Press, 5.
CONTENTS
I. Facts and Factors
of Development.
Introduction.
A. Phenomena of Development.
B. Factors of Development.
II. Cellular Basis
of Heredity and Development.
A. Introductory.
B. The Germ Cells.
C. The Mechanism of
Heredity.
D. The Mechanism of
Development.
III. Phenomena of
Inheritance.
A. Observations on
Inheritance.
B. Statistical Study
of Inheritance.
C. Experimental Study
of Inheritance.
IV. Influence of Environment.
A. Relative Importance
of Heredity and Environment.
B. Experimental Modifications
of Development.
C. Functional Activity
as a Factor of Development.
D. Inheritance or
Non-inheritance of Acquired Characters.
E. Applications to
Human Development: Eugenics.
V. Control of Heredity:
Eugenics.
A. Domesticated Animals
and Cultivated Plants.
B. Control of Human
Heredity.
VI. Genetics and Ethics.
Glossary of books
on this subject; for those who desire to be more fully acquainted
with the subjects of heredity and development. Author.
MORGAN, T. H., "Physical
Basis of Heredity."
EAST, E. M., and JONES,
D. F., "Inbreeding and Outbreeding," etc.
PARKER, G. H., "The
Elementary Nervous System."
HARVEY, E. N., "The
Nature of Animal Light."
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