8

d),namlcal \'volullon not accessible, OUT local knowledge will be much

improved In the process.
The method dull "'1th here PIlI5 emphasIs above all on the morpho-
<- genesis of Iht process, that IS. on the dlSCOnhO!l!lies of the' PMnomcnon.• A
very general classification of these changes of form, called •
..... '11 be gwen in Chapter 4.

8 . "I'be Independenno 01 tbe substf'luC

Thai "I' can construci an abstract. purely geometrical lbMt)' gf

•• !.n4<p!Nirnl (JJ )hC ...bural• .,Qj-/llrllll and {he UO'''« of 'ilt
creall! them. n1lght seem difficult to bt-lieve, esp«ially to the
;,;;., expenmentallst used \0 working Wllh liVing matter and alwlYs
strugghng .... lth an el!.lslvc reahty. 11115 Idea 15 nOI new and (an be found
almost nplicnly In Ihl' dHlilcal book of O'l\rcyThomrson. On Grot",h a"J
Form . but the Iheorlell of Ih,s Innovltor were too far in advance of their
lime 10 be ret:ognll.ed: moreover. they were expressed in a geometrica lly
naive way and lacked the mathematical JustifIcation that has only been
found m the ret:ent advances In topology and differential anal)515.
ThiS general pomt of vIew raises the followmg obvious quesllon If.
accordmg to our baSIC hypothesiS. the only stable singulantles 'l .11
morphogenesis arc determmed rolely by the dimension of the amtlien\
space. why do not all phenomena of our three-dimensiona l \\oorld ha\'e the
same morphol0l,Y1 Why do douds and mountains not have tI,e same
shape. and ,,'hy is the form of crystals dIfferent from thaI of liVing beings1
To this I repl) that the model altempts only to classify local accidents of
morphogenesis. which \\oe will call eiemen/Of)' ((J/lJ.Jfropht'!. whereas the
global macroscopiC appearance. the form In the usual se:nse of the word,
the result of the accumulation of many of these: local aCCidents. The
stahstl!: of these local aCCidents and the correl:lUOns go\emmg their
appearance m the course: o f a gl\'en process arc determined by the
topological structure of thclr mlernal dynamiC. but the lDtegrallon of all
these accidenl!l into a global Structure \\oould require. If we wanled to
pursue the apphcauon of the modd. a conSideration of catastrophes on
spaces or man) more dimenSIons than the normal three. It IS the topologi-
cal nehneliS of the mlemal dyna mlCli that finally nplaJns the boundless
of the external world and perhaps eYen the distinction belween
life and inert matter.

C. Biological and hk'!rt f _

1115 here Importanl to nOlC a !enerally neglccled 5ltuauon: for cenlunes

Ihe form of hVlng bemg:; hu been an objeci of 5tudy by bioJogl1l\s. wi,ilc
Ihe morphology o f Inert mailer seems only accidenta lly to have ClIcited the