Note 271

That the multiplication of life, of living substance, fundamentally is not a system-multiplication, but a true increase of molecular substance, is today surely taken as evident. And from such a molecular substance-increase (which as such is not doubted) there would result a re-generation of system, meaning in fact system-multiplication. If one views this not all too narrowly, then one might agree with that, because the complementing components to the system we well know of. But only in the sense that their [the complementing components] Unimol substance-increase (= cell multiplication) at the same time is system-completion. For this there are reasonable grounds. The current view, however, lets, without good reasons, the molecular substance-increase cease [already] at an inexplicably early stage, a stage arbitrarily taken, a stage  believed  without a practically immediate foothold, and then supposes without discussion that a  system  multiplies itself [instead of saying that the amount of molecular matter has multiplied itself to such an extent and duration that it completely embodies system-multiplication (so when all that matter is eventually, say, duplicated, then, apparently, the system has multiplied itself] (of which one has never heard, and that may be, in the end, the one-offness of life). Is it too great the simplicity of the familiar chemical substance-increase for not considering it? One has let the life problem to involve so many riddles and miracles -- the positivists do not accept these concepts, must, however, acknowledge their actual content -- that one is completely distracted from that what lies directly in front of one's eyes.

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