Abstract
SINCE the biologist seeks to understand life, he cannot be accused of lack of courage. But he can find out a great deal without approaching too near the central problem. He can find out how the living cell develops and how it behaves—he can follow many of the physical and chemical changes which take place in it, and could follow more if cells were not so inconveniently small. The immediate problems of the physiologist may be still further removed from the problem of life. They may deal, for example, with the mechanics of the vascular system or with the physical chemistry of blood pigments. But most physiologists aim at explaining the working of the body in terms of its constituent cells, and feel that this is a reasonable aim, even though we must take the cell for granted. Is it a reasonable aim when we are dealing with the working of the nervous system?
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ADRIAN, E. The Activity of Nerve Cells. Nature 132, 465–468 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132465a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132465a0