1. INTRODUCTION
7
and showed that the phylogenetic scale is the result of the temporal
processes which lead to its existence. To the scientific idea of unity
contained in the cell theory, the theory of evolution added the notion
of a fundamental genetic unity of organisms. These two ideas favored
the acceptance of the concept of General Physiology as a study of
physiological phenomena common to organisms as proposed by Claude
Bernard and also emphasized in Verworn's "Allgemeine Physiologie"
(1894) and in Pütters "Vergleichende Physiologie" (1911). The latter
writes that the scope of comparative physiology is "die Einheitlichkeit
des vitalen Geschehens zu entfassen, das in so vielen heterogenen
Formen uns in der Natur entgegentritt," a method in accordance with
Claude Bernard's theory that "la Physiologie generate ignore les distinctions entre especes, genres, families, etc. ..." In fact, General
Physiology has become, as H. Davson recently stated, "the study of
those aspects of living material that show some immediate prospect of
being described in the known laws of physics and chemistry," a definition which comes near to that formulated by Claude Bernard: "La
physiologie generate se trouve ainsi ramenee ä etre la science experimental qui etudie les proprietes de la matiere organisee et explique
les procedes et les mecanismes des phenomenes vitaux, comme la
physique et la chimie expliquent les procedes et les mecanismes des
phenomenes mineraux." Did not Cl. Bernard say, in a sentence which
has been reported by Dastre, that "La physiologie generale, c'est la
physique et la chimie de la matiere vivante." In the light of our present
knowledge it is clear that Bernard's General Physiology is nothing but
cell physiology and the elaboration of the concept stated by Schwann
of the autonomous physiology of the cell.
The same can be said of the discussion on the "unity of the biochemical plan" of organisms [Baldwin (2); Florkin (3)]. Since we
know that the enzymatic systems of glycolysis and of the pentose cycle
are generally found in the cytoplasm of all kinds of cells and that the
enzymes of the Krebs cycle and of the cycle of fatty acids are generally found in the mitochondria of the cells of organisms of all kinds,
it becomes clear that the concept of "unity of the biochemical plan" of
organisms as well as the concept of "general physiology" have to be
included in a modern formulation of the cell theory, as general cell
biochemistry and general cell physiology.
Philosophical trends inborn in human nature recur over and over
again in the human mind. There are no doubt many biochemists practising Naturphilosophie without knowing it, who believe that the scope
of true biological science is to uncover all the mysteries of those chemical phenomena which are common to all cells, and thus reach a final
7
and showed that the phylogenetic scale is the result of the temporal
processes which lead to its existence. To the scientific idea of unity
contained in the cell theory, the theory of evolution added the notion
of a fundamental genetic unity of organisms. These two ideas favored
the acceptance of the concept of General Physiology as a study of
physiological phenomena common to organisms as proposed by Claude
Bernard and also emphasized in Verworn's "Allgemeine Physiologie"
(1894) and in Pütters "Vergleichende Physiologie" (1911). The latter
writes that the scope of comparative physiology is "die Einheitlichkeit
des vitalen Geschehens zu entfassen, das in so vielen heterogenen
Formen uns in der Natur entgegentritt," a method in accordance with
Claude Bernard's theory that "la Physiologie generate ignore les distinctions entre especes, genres, families, etc. ..." In fact, General
Physiology has become, as H. Davson recently stated, "the study of
those aspects of living material that show some immediate prospect of
being described in the known laws of physics and chemistry," a definition which comes near to that formulated by Claude Bernard: "La
physiologie generate se trouve ainsi ramenee ä etre la science experimental qui etudie les proprietes de la matiere organisee et explique
les procedes et les mecanismes des phenomenes vitaux, comme la
physique et la chimie expliquent les procedes et les mecanismes des
phenomenes mineraux." Did not Cl. Bernard say, in a sentence which
has been reported by Dastre, that "La physiologie generale, c'est la
physique et la chimie de la matiere vivante." In the light of our present
knowledge it is clear that Bernard's General Physiology is nothing but
cell physiology and the elaboration of the concept stated by Schwann
of the autonomous physiology of the cell.
The same can be said of the discussion on the "unity of the biochemical plan" of organisms [Baldwin (2); Florkin (3)]. Since we
know that the enzymatic systems of glycolysis and of the pentose cycle
are generally found in the cytoplasm of all kinds of cells and that the
enzymes of the Krebs cycle and of the cycle of fatty acids are generally found in the mitochondria of the cells of organisms of all kinds,
it becomes clear that the concept of "unity of the biochemical plan" of
organisms as well as the concept of "general physiology" have to be
included in a modern formulation of the cell theory, as general cell
biochemistry and general cell physiology.
Philosophical trends inborn in human nature recur over and over
again in the human mind. There are no doubt many biochemists practising Naturphilosophie without knowing it, who believe that the scope
of true biological science is to uncover all the mysteries of those chemical phenomena which are common to all cells, and thus reach a final