Evolution without Selection: Form and Function by Autoevolution (review)

associated with unregulated conflicts of interest, a matter, as he rightly notes (p. 12), closely connected with matters of cost and hence of access to the medical system. If anything, the problem is even starker than he makes it out: not only are the costs of conflicts likely to be high, but the costs of their regulation is likely to be high as well. The explosion of medical technology has created a powerful irony in our time—medicine is an industry in desperate need of regulation , and essentially unregulatable. Richard A. Epstein Department of Law Senior Fellow, Center for Clinical Medical Ethics University of Chicago Evolution without Selection: Form and Function by Autoevolution. By A. Lima-deFaria . Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., 1988. Pp. 372. $201.75 bound, $84 paper. The concept that biological phenomena can be traced directly to the influence of physicochemical forces has borne fruit in a number of different areas. Pasteur's studies on crystal structure led him to believe molecular asymmetry was inextricably linked to living processes—a belief that led directly to his later studies on fermentation and the germ theory. Pasteur's hypothesis that asymmetrical physical forces, acting at the time of the origin oflife, impart asymmetry to molecules found in living organisms has been taken up anew by Cairns-Smith, whose demonstration that inorganic clay compounds selectively bind L-amino acids may possibly explain why all proteins contain exclusively L-amino acids. Schrodinger was able to account for the jump-like quality of mutations, and their probability of occurrence after irradiation, by postulating that mutations reflect the breakage and isomerization of chemical bonds in a hereditary molecule , now known to be DNA. Turing invoked the existence of chemical morphogens , formed according to rules of autocatalysis with lateral inhibition, to account for the emergence of patterning during embryogenesis. Recently, Prusiner has demonstrated that prions are self-replicating entities involving protein -protein interactions without the participation of nucleic acids. Now Prof. A. Lima-de-Faria of Sweden has written an intriguing monograph on this theme, which emphasizes that the laws of physics and chemistry generate the basic forms found in living organisms, and that organisms and physicochemical forces interact at many levels. The central intent of the book is to argue that models of biological evolution should not ignore the active, dynamic contribution of these forces, as neo-Darwinist models tend to do presently. Organisms operate according to many extra rules and constraints which have nothing to do with genotypes; conversely, genes are not free to create any phenotype at 312 Book Reviews all, but only those that lie within the existing constraints. The author's greatest strength is to provide striking examples of how similar biological patterns arise through similar underlying causes even in the most diverse, unlikely circumstances . For example: 1. The expression of horns is not restricted to species that fight for their mates, such as deer, but are found even in mollusks. The common denominator is thus not function, but might be common molecular composition; in both cases, horns involve a conglomeration of calcite-like and keratin-like compounds. 2. Bright colors are not restricted to species that advertise for their mates, such as birds, but are found widely in plants, fish, mollusks and insects, even among hermaphrodites. The common denominator here is proposed to be ambient temperature—species found in the tropics tend to have bright colors, while those in cold regions tend to be drab. 3. Morulae, early embryos consisting of a primitive ball ofcells, have the same cellular shapes as a cluster of soap bubbles. This too reflects an underlying commonality, not merely of physical forces (both involve surface tension) but of chemical composition (bubbles and cell membranes both consist of lipid salts). Far from being a coincidence, the similarity of pattern provides insight into why cell membranes must have the composition they do. 4. The fact that DNA replication requires a RNA primer is suggested to reflect similarities between the process of DNA replication and crystal growth, which in general requires "seeding" to get started. Lima-de-Faria is also able to connect disparate older observations in a way that makes them fresh and surprising...