Abstract
IN “The New Background of Science” Sir James Jeans, in discussing the activities of life in relation to the second law of thermodynamics, states that living organisms must possess some method of evading this law. He points out, for example, that a visitor to this planet from some tither universe would observe various curious and highly improbable arrangements of matter, such as collections of gold in various places, numerous collections of ice in hot climates, etc. These improbable arrangements or organisations imply presumably a decrease of entropy, that is, a violation of the second law. Surely, however, these actions are functionally inter-related with other simultaneous actions ; namely, the metabolism and oxidation of food by the human organisms and the oxidation of fuel in such engines as they employ, and these causally inter-related actions involve an increase of randomness, that is, disorganisation and consequent increase of entropy. I presume that Sir James Jeans would agree that the total effect will be a net increase of entropy.
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