AIM, CONTENT, AND POINT OF VIEW 9 



thus far discussed. One may attempt to make 

 such a change and find that he does not have suffi- 

 cient modifiability to make it permanent, so that it is 

 only for the moment, during actual collision with 

 some stubborn fact, that he is able to realize ecologi- 

 cal relations and an ecological point of view. 



To the physiologist, however, individual ecology 

 tends to appeal most strongly, and he, perhaps on 

 account of the preponderance of analytical methods 

 in his work, feels that this is the safest and most 

 important aspect. This statement is perhaps also 

 true of most students of animal behavior. This 

 is largely due to the great present need of analytical 

 methods in these lines, and perhaps indicates a stage 

 in the development of their science rather than a 

 permanent condition. Later a synthetic develop- 

 ment will probably become more prominent, and 

 with it will come a change in estimating relative 

 values. Generally physiologists allow for a greater 

 influence of the environment than do many other 

 students. They are impressed with the dependence 

 of organisms upon their environment, and the study 

 of their reactions only reinforces this conception. 



The ecologist who studies the responses of animals 

 cannot help being impressed with the processes of 

 adjustment, and with adaptation as a process. It 

 is adaptation as a process, rather than as a product, 

 which perhaps interests him most, and emphasis 

 needs to be placed upon this distinction. The 

 problem of adaptation as a process may be a different 

 and separate one from that of evolution, but indi- 



