1 6 ESSENTIALS OF BIOLOGY 



— indeed the problem of free-will has been regarded as a pseudo- 

 problem and the amount of fruitless discussion that has been 

 expended on it goes far to justify that way of looking at the 

 question. 



We take it, then, that, to some extent, man is free to do this, 

 or that, or to do nothing at all. 



And there is no result in biology that shows us that the evolu- 

 tionary career is determinate. No biologist cares to predict what 

 will be the future evolution of any species of organism. If human 

 evolution is indeterminate so also is the power of man to act 

 upon his environment. 



Even with man's present powers the future phase of the solar 

 system may be affected by him. Thus : 



Tidal friction is slowly lengthening the day (or retarding the 

 period of the earth's rotation on its axis). It is also increasing 

 the distance between the earth and the moon. The latter body 

 will very slowly recede from the earth ; will then begin to approach 

 the earth again and will come so near that it will be broken up 

 (by tidal disruption) into a system of small bodies such as those 

 that compose the rings of Saturn. 



But if man should choose to utilize tidal en'ergy he will change 

 the amount of tidal friction, will alter the whole tidal regime and 

 will change, in some degree, the rates at which the above cosmic 

 processes occur. True, the degree to which he could (with his 

 present powers) influence the rate of tidal evolution is very small 

 indeed — still, the theoretical possibility of his doing so exists, and 

 whether he will do so or not, and to what extent his future 

 evolution will enable him so to act, is, so far as we can see, in- 

 determinate. 



5^. The Nature of the Organic Environment. All the 

 things and energies which an organism can utilize or which can 

 affect it constitute its environment. 



If there are things round about it upon which it cannot act, 

 and which do not act upon it, these things are not in its environ- 

 ment, even if they are in more or less proximity to it. It is 

 difficult to see, for instance, in what ways herrings in the Irish 

 Sea can be affected by earthquakes in California or by the motions 

 of Jupiter's satellites, yet these events and things occur and exist 

 along with the herrings. They do not form part of the significant 

 clupeid environment. 



