The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974) is collection of 29 essays written by Lewis Thomas for The New England Journal of Medicine between 1971 and 1973. Throughout his essays, Thomas touches on subjects as various as biology, anthropology, medicine, music (showing a particular affinity for Bach), etymology, mass communication, and computers. The pieces resonate with the underlying theme of the interconnected nature of Earth and all living things.
Background Lewis Thomas was a physician, immunology researcher, dean, poet, etymologist, and essayist. He attended Princeton University followed by Harvard Medical School. He was a research fellow at the Thorndyke Memorial laboratories, and a researcher at Tulane University and University of Minnesota. He was the head of the pathology department at New York University Medical School for fifteen years as well as the chair for the Department of Medicine at Bellevue Hospital. He became the dean of the New York University Medical School and later of Yale School of Medicine. Thomas began writing a monthly essay "Notes of a Biology Watcher" in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1971 while he was at Yale. In 1973 he became the president of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York.
Lewis Thomas published multiple books throughout his career, the first being The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. In 1979 he published The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher. He wrote an autobiographical book in 1983, The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher. Also in 1983 he published Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony followed by Could I Ask You Something? in 1985. In 1990 and 1992 Thomas published Et Cetera Et Cetera: Notes of a Word Watcher and The Fragile Species respectively.
The most influential writer to Thomas's writing style is Michel de Montaigne. He is quoted as saying "I cannot imagine anyone reading Montaigne carefully, paying attention, concentrating on what he has to say, without smiling most of the time".
Summary The Lives of a Cell This essay focuses on how connected humanity is to nature and how we must make strides to understand our role. Thomas argues that even our own bodies are not solely ours since the mitochondria and other organelles are descended from other organisms. He creates a metaphor of the Earth as a giant cell itself with humans just as one part of a vast system. Thoughts for a Countdown Astronauts must be decontaminated before they are allowed to interact on Earth. Thomas states that this is an act of "human chauvinism." Most organisms on Earth are symbiotic or, if harmful, have both adapted to warn the other. All organisms on Earth are interdependent and a stray virus or bacteria from the Moon will not be adapted to harm lifeforms on Earth since it is not part of this connection. Bacteria are interconnected to the point where some cannot survive without others and some even live within others. We must recognize how interconnected even the smallest organisms are on Earth; especially if we must interact with life outside our planet. On Societies as Organisms Thomas introduces one of his key metaphors of humans behaving like ants. He suggests that this metaphor is not used because humans do not like to be compared to insects that, as a society, can function as an organism. There are many examples of animals acting as a large organism when in large groups from termites and slime molds to birds and fish. Thomas argues that the communication of results in science puts humans in the same model as these other species, as all scientists communicate and build on each other's work in order to explore that which we do not know. A Fear of Pheromones Humans fear pheromones because we believe we have gone above the basic secretion of chemicals in our communication. However, there are signs that point to humans relying on pheromones as well as our most technological forms of communication. Thomas shows pheromones in the animal world with examples of moths and fish. He then goes on to explain what impact pheromones in humans could have on the future such as in the perfume industry and finding histocompatible donors. The Music of This Sphere Music is the only form of communication that saves us from an overwhelming amount of small talk. This is not only a human phenomenon, but happens throughout the animal world. Thomas makes examples of animals from termites and earthworms to gorillas and alligators that perform some sort of rhythmic noise making that can be interpreted as music if we had full range of hearing. From the vast number of animals that participate in music it is clear that the need to make music is a fundamental characteristic of biology. Thomas proposes that the animal world is continuing a musical memory that has been going since the beginning of time. An Earnest Proposal Thomas argues that even though we have the technological advancements to destroy the Earth that we do not know near enough about the world in which we live. To solve this problem he suggests that we should not be able to fire nuclear weapons without being able to explain one living thing fully. The organism that Thomas proposes is the protozoan Myxotricha paradoxa. There is information known about this protozoan that lives in the digestive tract of Australian termites but with more study it could be a model for how our cells developed. It is seen throughout nature that organisms cooperate and progress into more complex forms. We cannot destroy vast amounts of Earth with nuclear weapons until we understand how interconnected we all are. The Technology of Medicine Thomas presents the three levels of technology in medicine: "nontechnology" that helps patients with diseases that are not well understood but does not help solve the underlying mechanisms of the disease, "halfway technology" that makes up for disease or postpones death for diseases whose courses we cannot do much about, and "high technology" that from understanding the mechanism of the disease we are now able to cure. When looking at the costs of the three different technologies they are all needed, but once a "high technology" is found for a disease the benefits outweigh the costs of studying the mechanism of the disease so thoroughly. Thomas suggests that in order to save money in health care, the highest priority in funding should be given to basic research. Vibes Humans leave a trace of chemicals in every place they go and on everything they touch. Other animals use signaling mechanisms to leave trails or identify each other. The sense of smell is an important sense in using these mechanisms, but it is still not well understood. Humans, compared to the rest of the animal world, do not have a good olfactory sense though we may be better than we first assume. Johannes Kepler once argued that the Earth is an immense organism itself, with chemical signals spreading across the globe through various organisms in order to keep the world functioning and well informed. Ceti Tau Ceti is a nearby sun-like star that we are on the verge of being able to begin making contact with, as well as other celestial bodies, to search for life. We have been attracted to the vast regions of space outside our Earth bubble and what they could hold. If extraterrestrial life is found, it scientifically would make sense, but the social impact of no longer being unique would give humans a new sense of community. The question of what information to send out is answered by Thomas by sending music, specifically Bach. It is timeless and the best language we have to express who we are. If possible Thomas also suggests sending art. However, the questions of what to send will not stop once we receive a reply. The Long Habit As humans we always avoid the topic of death, despite the fact that it is a natural part of our lives. When it is far removed, as in war or on television, we can discuss it without a problem. It is a subconscious effort that by not thinking about death we may continue to live. Nevertheless, even if we cured all diseases we still would die one day. We must not fear death and research the dying process just as we would any other biological process. Most people who have a near death experience do not recall any pain or fear. It is perhaps the loss of consciousness that people fear more than death itself. Antaeus in Manhattan Thomas returns to his pondering of the social behaviors of insects in this essay. He discusses the change in behavior of insects in groups and singular insects. We have used insects and their behavior to convey lessons, rules, and virtues and now they have been used in art. Thomas describes an art exhibit with living ants, surrounded by humans who act in a similar manner to the ants themselves. The MBL Thomas praises the Marine Biological Laboratory as "a paradigm, a human institution possessed of a life of its own, self-regenerating, touched all around by human meddle but consistently improved, embellished by it." It attracts the brightest minds and makes great strides in science autonomously. Thomas paints pictures with his description of scientists covering the beach with their diagrams and making "music" of discussion after a lecture at the MBL. Autonomy Humans have to learn how to walk, skip, and ride a bicycle but inside our bodies perform specific manipulations from birth that we do not need to learn. There is new research that suggests humans may be able to change these inner processes with teaching. Thomas reasons that his body has been functioning fine without him trying to control every little process so he will let it continue to do so. He suggests to try the exact opposite and try to disconnect from your body altogether. Organelles as Organisms The biologic revolution is filling in the gaps in understanding about how our cells function. As we begin to understand more about organelles it is clear that they are not originally created from our cells. Mitochondria and chloroplasts most likely have a bacterial ancestry and flagellae and cilia most likely were once spirochetes. It is not necessarily a master-slave relationship that we have with our organelles, but one where their ancestors found an easy way to stay protected and secure. We have brought them along with us as we evolved and yet we do not understand them completely. Organelles and eukaryotic cells are one of the most established symbiotic relationships. Germs We treat bacteria as an ever-present enemy even though there are only a small number that actually cause disease, and by accident in most cases. Bacteria normally do not gain anything by causing illness or death in their hosts. Our illness is mostly caused by our immune system doing too great of a job in response to bacteria in our system. The strength of our response is not necessary for most cases, but remains from a primitive time. Your Very Good Health Health care has become the new name for medicine though this is a misnomer since illness and death cannot be totally eradicated. Thomas argues that to understand how medicine should be used we should look to those internists that are involved in the system. Most things get better in a short while by themselves, so we should no longer be instilling in the public a constant fear of failed health. This will be the best way to solve the problem of funding health care since people will only use it when it is necessary. Social Talk There are different degrees of social behavior in animals. However, it is not clear where humans fit on the scale. Most signs point that we are above the social behavior of ants and bees that go about a singular task as a whole community. Language is the one trait that brings us to the level of such animals. All humans engage in language and are born with the understanding of language. Language, and perhaps along with art and music, is the core of our social behavior. Information