DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Variant, v. 1, issue 3, September 1947

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Variant, v. 1, issue 3, September 1947

Page 31

4. The substances constituting living units exist in the form of infinitely complex colloidal systems.

5. So long as organisms remain alive there goes on in them a complex traffic in energy between themselves and the non-living world, which is called metabolism.

6. Living units grow in a way peculiar to themselves, in that they increase in all the living parts and do not grow by adding to their exteriors as do crystals.

7. All but the lowest levels of life develop from a relatively simple state to a more complex state. Thus a complex individual such as man starts his individual career as a single cell from which gradually develops the human being.

8. Living units are generally capable of giving rise to more individuals like themselves, these offspring rising from representative parts of the parent or parents.

9. Living units tend to co-operate with one another, the association resulting in mutual benefit. All grades of units tend to form more or less closely integrated aggregares, some of which may become units of higher order.

10. Living units are irritable or sensitive to changes in their environment and tend to respond to stimuli of various sorts, in a variety of way.s

11. The forms and functions of living units are modified by the living and lifeless environments in which they live. In other words, living things exhibit adativeness.

12. Living things are changed not merely as individuals, but whole races slowly, evolve from one state to another. This orderly process of change in races is usually spoken of as organic evolution.

13. As a result of evolutionary changes there has been produced a multiplicity of different kinds, or species, of life units, yet there runs through the multitude of diverse types a sort of common pattern or a fewmain patterns of organization, a fact which makes it possible to classify them into a few major assemblages or phyla. Thus both variety and unity are properties of living units.

These and undoubtedly many other representative qualities of living organisms not here listed, make up a provisory definition of life. Any less inclusive list would certainly be inadequate in any attempted explanation of life.

CORRECTION!

VARIANT Vol 1 No. 3: Page 2, paragraph 4. "...just a ship...", read [[?]]ip.

(31)

Saving...

4. The substances constituting living units exist in the form of infinitely complex colloidal systems. 5. So long as organisms remain alive there goes on in them a complex traffic in energy between themselves and the non-living world, which is called metabolism. 6. Living units grow in a way peculiar to themselves, in that they increase in all the living parts and do not grow by adding to their exteriors as do crystals. 7. All but the lowest levels of life develop from a relatively simple state to a more complex state. Thus a complex individual such as man starts his individual career as a single cell from which gradually develops the human being. 8. Living units are generally capable of giving rise to more individuals like themselves, these offspring rising from representative parts of the parent or parents. 9. Living units tend to co-operate with one another, the association resulting in mutual benefit. All grades of units tend to form more or less closely integrated aggregares, some of which may become units of higher order. 10. Living units are irritable or sensitive to changes in their environment and tend to respond to stimuli of various sorts, in a variety of way.s 11. The forms and functions of living units are modified by the living and lifeless environments in which they live. In other words, living things exhibit adativeness. 12. Living things are changed not merely as individuals, but whole races slowly, evolve from one state to another. This orderly process of change in races is usually spoken of as organic evolution. 13. As a result of evolutionary changes there has been produced a multiplicity of different kinds, or species, of life units, yet there runs through the multitude of diverse types a sort of common pattern or a fewmain patterns of organization, a fact which makes it possible to classify them into a few major assemblages or phyla. Thus both variety and unity are properties of living units. These and undoubtedly many other representative qualities of living organisms not here listed, make up a provisory definition of life. Any less inclusive list would certainly be inadequate in any attempted explanation of life. CORRECTION! VARIANT Vol 1 No. 3: Page 2, paragraph 4. "...just a ship...", read [[?]]ip. (31)