THE SOCIETAL ORGANISM 



to see how these forces act, in terms of the over -all 

 needs of the participating units. One now can consider 

 these forces in terms of the problem of survival of the 

 individual cells, which is being more satisfactorily 

 solved by the colony. As has been shown, continuing 

 integration of these colonies leads to the formation of 

 integral metazoa. 



It is probable that there is a continuity of the mech- 

 anism leading towards integration, which could be 

 followed through the various levels of increasing com- 

 plexity of matter, if only enough data were available. 

 This lack of data is especially pronounced in regard to 

 the integration of the virus-like protein molecules that 

 must have been responsible for cell formation. There 

 seems reason to hope that research into this phenom- 

 enon will make it possible to provide explanation in 

 terms of chemical forces, as well as in terms of survival 

 problems of the participating components. Once this is 

 accomplished, the operation of the integrative process 

 on various levels of complexity will become more 

 understandable in terms of its mechanism. However as 

 yet this cannot be demonstrated in the light of pres- 

 ently available knowledge. Therefore we shall not 

 dwell on further discussion of this mechanism. Instead 

 another significant aspect of the pattern of integration 

 operative in evolution shall be considered. 



This aspect may be roughly identified by stating that 

 the product of the integration always comprises an 



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