E-Book Content
WHY
SIZE
M AT T E R S
This page intentionally left blank
WHY
SIZE
M AT T E R S FROM BACTERIA TO BLUE WHALES
John Tyler Bonner
Princeton U nive r s ity P re s s Princeton & Oxford
Copyright Copyright © © 2006 2006 by by Princeton Princeton University University Press Press Published Published by by Princeton Princeton University University Press, Press, 41 41William William Street, Street, Princeton, Princeton, New New Jersey Jersey 08540 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Press, Market Place, 6 OxfordWoodstock, Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW Oxfordshire OX20 1SY press.princeton.edu All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sixth printing, and first paperback Bonner, John Tyler printing, 2012 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-691-15233-2 Why size matters : from bacteria to blue whales / John Tyler Bonner. p. cm. The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows Includes bibliographical references and index. Bonner, John Tyler ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12850-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) Why size matters : from bacteria to blue whales / John Tyler Bonner. ISBN-10: 0-691-12850-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) p. cm. 1. Body size. I. Title. Includes bibliographical references and index. QL799.B66 2006 ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12850-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 578.4'1— dc22 2006004945 ISBN-10: 0-691-12850-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Body size. I.Title. Data is available British Library Cataloging-in-Publication QL799.B66 2006 and Helvetica Neue This book has been composed in Bembo 578.4'1— 2006004945 Printed dc22 on acid-free paper. ⬁ pup.princeton.edu British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available Printed in the United States of America This book has been composed in Bembo and Helvetica Neue 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 7 9 10 8 6
fo r S la wa
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 2 The Human View of Size 7 3 The Physics of Size 2 8 4 The Evolution of Size 6 2 5 Size and the Division of Labor 7 9 6 Size and Time 7 Envoi
147
Notes 1 5 3 Index
157
11 6
This page intentionally left blank
One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it. —Elizabeth Bowen
PREFACE Our interest in the size of things is entrenched in the human psyche. It reveals itself in literature from Gulliver’s Travels, to the Grimms’ fairy tales, to Alice in Wonderland. We see it in our daily thoughts of our growing children, of the people who are around us, of our pets, of the fish we catch, of the portions of the food we are served, of the clothes we buy—are you small, medium, or large?—and one could go on and on. There is hardly anything we observe in daily life that we, either consciously or unconsciously, do not take measure of its size. We love to measure everything with rulers and scales and clocks. I began to think of the matter of biological size years ago when I first read that glorious chapter in D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s On Growth and Form called “On Magnitude.” It is a model of insight, erudition, and beautiful prose. He showed me that size and shape are indeed interrelated and that the reason that this is so is a matter of physics that underlies the biology. From this initial inspiration there slowly grew inside me the feeling that there was a hidden other dimension of the
x
/
P R E FA C E
subject that was eluding me. That inner feeling persisted for many years, and slowly something began to take shape. I am finally putting it all together in this book—I feel as though those shadowy thoughts have erupted through the surface. This book is a