98 ORGANISM AND ENVIRONMENT 



formed operation leads to its being performed with 

 ease and certainty, without there being any conscious- 

 ness of the innumerable details of nervous and muscu- 

 lar adjustment which are involved. 



Of all other analogous facts the most remarkable, 

 in the higher organisms, are those relating to reproduc- 

 tion of the whole organism. None of the innumerable 

 structures special to the adult organism are present in 

 the developing ovum ; but as if guided by stimuli which 

 awaken memories of its parents and ancestors, it 

 builds up the adult structures and activities by degrees, 

 often reproducing even the finest nuances in the 

 character of either parent. In a living organism the 

 past lives on in the present, and the stored adaptations 

 of the race live on from generation to generation, wak- 

 ing up into response when the appropriate stimulus 

 comes, just as conscious memory is awakened. 



Looking at all these facts we are inevitably forced 

 to the conclusion that the life of an organism, includ- 

 ing its relations to internal and external environment, 

 is something of prime reality, since it persists actively 

 and as a whole, and moreover tends to do so in more 

 and more detail with enlarging experience, so that life 

 is a true development. What persists is neither a mere 

 definitely bounded physical structure nor the activity 

 of such a structure. There is no sharp line of demar- 

 cation between a living organism and its environment. 

 The persistence of the internal environment and its 

 activities is, in fact, as evident as that of the more 

 central parts of an organism ; and a similar persistence, 

 becoming less and less detailed, extends outwards into 



