78 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



In the first place I ask: Is the cell and are cells in an organ- 

 ism a co-operative system, in which the parts and their 

 functions are so ordered and arranged that they co-operate 

 for common purposes, and do not merely subserve the sepa- 

 rate ends of the individual parts? 



There could be no doubt as to the answer. The whole 

 meaning and significance of Metabolism is that the activities 

 of the cell are not self-centred or self-regarding. The cell 

 functions for other cells and for the plant as a whole. One 

 element in the cell functions for other elements and for the 

 whole cell organism. The secretions formed in one cell are 

 intended to build up other cells or to serve the plant as a 

 whole. The fibro-vascular cells carry liquid food from one 

 part of the plant to the other parts. The carbohydrates 

 formed in the green cells are transmitted and stored as food 

 for all the other cells; the woody substances secreted from 

 them are meant to strengthen other cells and the plant as 

 a whole against the forces of the environment; the aroma 

 and bloom which are secreted from them are meant to 

 render attractive and adorn other parts of the plant with a 

 view to the preservation of the plant species as a whole. 

 Indeed, all the processes of Metabolism go to prove that 

 the plant is one vast co-operative system, in which the indi- 

 vidual cells in their continuous functions and labours make 

 their contribution to the common effort, and work so that 

 other cells or the plant itself or the species to which it 

 belongs may live. The cell in its normal structure and func- 

 tions is the very type of co-operative action. 



So far I believe we are still on firm ground in our descrip- 

 tion of cell activities, and the co-operative character of 

 organic functioning will be generally admitted. Can we go 

 further and characterise this co-operation more closely? 

 What is the nature of this cell or organic co-operation? Is it 

 spontaneous or controlled? And if controlled, is it controlled 

 internally or externally? Let me repeat the question in 

 another form. Are the cells and the organs which they form 

 in the same plant or animal free and independent, so that the 

 co-operation which we observe in their functioning is a mere 

 accidental result of their individual uncontrolled reactions 



