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HUMAN PERSONALITY
Author(s) -
Jerome L. Singer,
Jerome Kagan
Publication year - 1950
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1950.tb80470.x
Subject(s) - personality , citation , psychology , computer science , information retrieval , social psychology , world wide web
that all the energy at man's disposal--coal, oil, lignite, peat, firewood and the muscles of working animals and of man himself-is derived from the photosynthesis of plants storing incident solar energy. Now photosynthesis by plants represents only about one-thousandth of the total radiant energy intercepted by the land surface in the growing season. How can man's inventive genius catch and store solar energy for his needs? Many have suggested direct transffirmation into electric energy, but the author is confident that a tremendous revolution awaits artificial photosynthesis yielding substances of high potential chemical energy. Once that has been accomplished man will be free from the thraldom of the green plant, and agriculture with its exacting demands may become extinct! The temptation is strong to quote extensively from this stimulating work, but considerations of space prescribe limits. The chapter "Embryos and Energy" reveals some extraordinary problems. What is the teleological significance of the rtotous expenditure of energy by the yeast plant and the bacillus of lactic fermentation? "The bacillus (lactic) is able to destroy from 178 to 14,980 times its own weight of lactose per hour." The author naturally describes this as a very wasteful process. On the other hand, the transformation of the components of an egg into the muscles. glands, nerves, viscera, bones and feathers of the chick seems to take place without any detectable absorption of energy-a strange and fascinating problem. When dealing with growth-promoting substances, the author presents some remarkable results of experiments, including his own. When plants are emasculated by taking away the anthers before these are mature and when visiting pollen is prevented. growth-regulating substances, such as indol acetic or naphthalene acetic acids, applied to the stigma, produce a fully formed fruit devoid of seed. By the use of fluorescein the author obtained a number of seedless fruits Including several Cucurbltacere. This is a book not only to be read but to be owned.