﻿ADAPTIVENESS 
  AND 
  PURPOSIVENESS 
  343 
  

  

  posiveness 
  have 
  played 
  an 
  important 
  part, 
  and 
  that 
  even 
  

   when 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  said 
  that 
  variability 
  shuffles 
  the 
  cards 
  blindly, 
  

   it 
  is 
  incumbent 
  on 
  the 
  individual 
  to 
  play 
  the 
  game 
  intelli- 
  

   gently 
  if 
  it 
  means 
  to 
  win. 
  

  

  Moreover, 
  in 
  the 
  regulatory 
  self-adjustment 
  of 
  the 
  or- 
  

   ganism 
  when 
  functioning 
  or 
  development 
  has 
  been 
  badly 
  

  

  

  

  disturbed, 
  in 
  the 
  activity, 
  within 
  the 
  body, 
  of 
  independent 
  

   mobile 
  elements 
  like 
  phagocytes, 
  in 
  the 
  regeneration 
  of 
  a 
  

   lost 
  lens 
  from 
  a 
  tissue 
  which 
  does 
  not 
  normally 
  give 
  rise 
  to 
  

   one, 
  we 
  get 
  just 
  a 
  glimpse 
  of 
  a 
  residual 
  organic 
  purposiveness, 
  

   though 
  that 
  has 
  been 
  as 
  a 
  whole 
  resigned 
  in 
  favour 
  of 
  very 
  

   perfect 
  and 
  thoroughgoing 
  organisation. 
  

  

  What 
  is 
  meant 
  by 
  saying 
  that 
  the 
  organism 
  is 
  essentially 
  

   purposive, 
  or 
  that 
  it 
  has 
  an 
  essentially 
  teleological 
  or 
  finalist 
  

   aspect? 
  This 
  is 
  meant, 
  that 
  the 
  whole 
  life 
  expresses 
  a 
  ten- 
  

   dency 
  to 
  persist, 
  that 
  the 
  whole 
  life 
  is 
  adapted 
  towards 
  self- 
  

   preservation 
  and 
  self-expression. 
  And 
  if 
  it 
  be 
  said 
  that 
  

   this 
  adaptedness 
  is 
  the 
  outcome 
  of 
  ages 
  of 
  mechanical 
  varia- 
  

   tion 
  and 
  selection, 
  the 
  answer 
  is 
  that 
  neither 
  variation 
  nor 
  

   selection 
  can 
  be 
  adequately 
  described 
  as 
  mechanical. 
  

  

  7. 
  Provisional 
  Conclusion 
  and 
  Anticipation. 
  

  

  We 
  have 
  been 
  necessarily 
  much 
  concerned 
  with 
  the 
  out- 
  

   works, 
  and 
  there 
  remain 
  many 
  imperfectly 
  answered 
  ques- 
  

   tions. 
  What, 
  in 
  the 
  world-becoming 
  as 
  a 
  whole, 
  is 
  the 
  signi- 
  

   ficance 
  in 
  the 
  largest 
  sense 
  of 
  the 
  inorganic 
  domain 
  in 
  its 
  in- 
  

   tricacy 
  and 
  splendour, 
  of 
  the 
  myriads 
  of 
  invisible 
  Protists, 
  of 
  

   the 
  hundreds 
  of 
  thousands 
  of 
  plants, 
  of 
  the 
  struggle 
  for 
  exist- 
  

   ence, 
  of 
  the 
  prodigious 
  mortality, 
  of 
  the 
  age-long 
  genetic 
  proc- 
  

   ess 
  with 
  all 
  its 
  groaning 
  and 
  travailing? 
  To 
  such 
  questions 
  

   we 
  shall 
  return 
  in 
  our 
  study 
  of 
  Organic 
  Evolution, 
  conscious 
  

   that 
  behind 
  them 
  there 
  loom 
  others 
  If 
  Nature 
  be 
  Nature 
  

  

  