Cell and tissue, shell and bone, leaf and flower, are so many portions of matter, and it is in obedience to the laws of physics that their particles have been moved, moulded and conformed. They are no exceptions to the rule that God always geometrizes. Their problems of form are in the first instance mathematical problems, their problems of growth are essentially physical problems, and the morphologist is, ipso facto, a student of physical science.
D'Arcy Wentworth ThompsonWe call a thing big or little with reference to what it is wont to be, as we speak of a small elephant or a big rat.
D'Arcy Wentworth ThompsonSagging wrinkles, hanging breasts and many another sign of age are part of gravitation's slow relentless handiwork.
D'Arcy Wentworth ThompsonCell and tissue, shell and bone, leaf and flower, are so many portions of matter, and it is in obedience to the laws of physics that their particles have been moved, moulded and conformed. They are no exceptions to the rule that God always geometrizes. Their problems of form are in the first instance mathematical problems, their problems of growth are essentially physical problems, and the morphologist is, ipso facto, a student of physical science.
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson