94 The Unity of the Organism 



it not only does not encourage, it actually stands against 

 such examination. Its opposition to comprehensiveness and 

 systematization is profound and essential. 



Our examination will begin with a single brief, two-parted 

 definition : The structural and functional interdependence 

 found to exist among the parts of an organism we call bio- 

 integratedness; and the process of moving on from grade 

 to grade of interdependence among the differentiating parts 

 which constitutes ontogenesis in the individual we call bio- 

 integration. 



Four Types of Bio-integration to Be Treated 



In the present state of knowledge and for the discussion 

 now before us four types or kinds of bio-integratedness and 

 bio-integration may be recognized as pertaining to the in- 

 dividual organism : 



1. Growth integration, most obvious in graded meristic 

 series, but also expressed in the "axial gradients" of Child. 



2. Chemico-functional integration, known so far chiefly 

 in connection with internal secretions. 



3. Neural integration, comprising the interdependences 

 among the parts of the nervous system, and the involvement 

 with this of the muscular, glandular and other organs. 



4. Psychic integration, very closely connected with neural 

 integration, but approached from the side of the totality of 

 activities of living beings rather than from the side of nerve- 

 organ activity, and so taking cognizance of a vast number 

 of phenomena not yet definitely correlatable with neural 

 phenomena. 



The full presentation of facts and arguments under these 

 four heads would reach far beyond the limits set for the 

 present work. We are, consequently, obliged to restrict 

 ourselves to a small portion of the best established and most 

 compelling evidence under each head. 



