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The Problem of the Autonomy of Life

Abstract

IN his letter published in NATURE of May 16, Prof. Donnan abandons his previous assertion that a potency for producing order resides in the temperature difference between two surfaces. He substitutes the obvious and indisputable statement that an energy disequilibrium is one of the necessary conditions for the production of the specific structure of a living organism. It is, of course, one of the necessary conditions for the production of anything, and so this does not get us any further. The cause of the discrimination of which there is evidence has still to be sought.

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KAPP, R. The Problem of the Autonomy of Life. Nature 150, 123–124 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150123b0

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