THE ASYMMETRY OF THE CYCLE OF LIFE 151
among
us, and they do pull down and build up again in the opposite direction, for the
“laevo-men “ are the cancers.
In
the light of the antithetic alternation of generations and of the natural
antithesis of the compounds arising in the two generations, the following
passage from Professor Pope’s address (p. 283) is of interest. It is also
instructive, because of the generally accepted but false views of the question:
“Again, suppose that at its origin life were carried on non-enantiomorphously,
and that it involved the consumption and the production only of
non-enantiomorphous substances and of compensated mixtures, it may well be
foreseen that a stage in development might arise when each individual, in view
of the increasing complexity of his vital processes, would have to decide to
use only the one enantiomorphous component of his compensated food, and so
evade an otherwise necessary duplication of his digestive apparatus. Acting intelligently
or fortuitously, one half of the individuals would become dextro-beings, while
the other half would become laevo-individuals; the succeeding generations would
thus be of two enantiomorphously related configurations.” He then goes on to
express his own opinion that in course of time one configuration, the weaker
one, would disappear permanently. But in this opinion the facts of botanical
and embryological science are not taken into account. it is, however, only
necessary to make the “succeeding generations,” spoken of, alternate in order
to meet the scientific requirements of Nature, and so to make the passage
absolutely true as a statement of scientific fact. This is done by- inserting
in the closing passage the word “alternating,” when it would read: “the
succeeding generations alternating would thus be of two enantiomorphously
related configurations.”