IN my letter of May 16, to which Prof. Kapp refers, I tried to explain that the disequilibrium in question, involving as it does an increase of entropy, was a necessary (though, as I pointed out, not a sufficient) condition for the occurrence of the photochemical process, since the latter involves an increase of order and a decrease of entropy. I was careful to point out that the work of the biochemists and plant physiologists was necessary in order to complete the associated complex of conditions and processes which, together with the fundamental condition, constitutes a satisfactory causal analysis of the phenomenon. It will be obvious, I think, to those who have followed the discussion, that what Prof. Kapp now says constitutes a complete travesty of my remarks and demonstrates in the clearest manner that he has failed to understand their meaning.

Affiliations

1. The Athenæum, London.

   • F. G. DONNAN

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Publication history

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/150124a0

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