Chapter 13
Epilogue
From Man or Angel the great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge,
His secrets, to be scanned by them who ought
Rather admire. Or, if they list to try
Conjecture, he his fabric of the Heavens
Hath left to their disputes—perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model Heaven
And calculate the stars: How they will wield
The mighty frame: How build, unbuild, contrive
Tosave appearances; how gird the Sphere
With Centric and Eccentric scribbled o’er,
Cycle and Epicycle, Orb in Orb.- John Milton,Paradise Lost
Farewells should be brief. Instead of a lengthy repetition of what we have done, here is a short
outline what wedidn’tmanage to do in this long book. (For what wedid do, you may wish to
reread all the chapter openings and closings in one sitting.)
Put this book down, go outside, and look at an ant. After reading this book you now have some
detailed ideas about how it gets the energy needed to move around incessantly, how its nervous
system controls the muscles, and so on. You can also write some simple estimates to understand
how the ant can carry loads several times its body weight, but an elephant cannot. And yet reading
this book has given you no insight into the fantastic choreography of muscles needed simply to walk,
the interpersonal communication needed to tell other ants about sources of food, nor the complex
sociology of the ant’s nest. Even the equally fantastic choreography of the biochemical pathways
in asingle cell,to say nothing of cellular control and decision networks, have exceeded our grasp.
Nor could we touch on the ecological questions—why do some ants lovingly tend their host
trees, while others intentionally stunt their host’s reproduction, to make it a better home for ants?
Clearly there is much, much more to biology than molecules and energy. I hope that by uncovering
just one corner of this tapestry I have heightened, not dulled, your sense of awe and wonder at the
living world around us.
The master key for addressing all these questions is of course evolution by natural selection.
Originally a modest proposal for understanding the origin of species, this principle has become
©c2000 Philip C. Nelson486