VIII DARWINISM AND HOLISM 211 



a whole in a particular direction. It is normally conditioned 

 by what has gone before in the history of the organism and 

 is really of a piece with the organism as a whole. Nor does 

 it as a rule appear alone. The organism as a whole is on 

 the march, and while the variation may be the first and 

 most significant indication of the inner movement, the 

 advance is not confined to a single point, but is represented 

 by a curve of progress on which other minor advances are 

 registered at the same time. Thus variation A when 

 closely scanned will be seen to be really more like A + 6 -h 

 c + d, where b, c and d represent minor variations which 

 adjust A in various respects to the organism. The appar- 

 ently isolated variation is seen to be what it really is, an 

 advance of the organism as a whole in a particular direction, 

 a holistic as distinguished from a singular and mechanical 

 variation or change. Mechanical analogies may assist us 

 to understand to some extent what happens. A mechanical 

 system of a given number of elements in equilibrium is 

 given a push or blow with a certain force in a certain direc- 

 tion. When it has recovered from the push or blow and 

 is in equilibrium once more, it will be found that the change 

 is not merely in the direction in which the force was applied, 

 but that all the other elements have also been affected and 

 have undergone adjustments in order to achieve the new 

 equilibrium. The same happens, only much more intensely 

 and intimately and organically, in the case of a change in a 

 living whole. Variation A necessarily involves a number of 

 collateral adjustments which are dependent on A, and are 

 not independently originated or conserved. In other words, 

 holistic variation or variation of a whole in any particular 

 respect is the cause and carrier of minor variations which 

 are not independently selected or conserved, and for which 

 Natural Selection need not, therefore, be called into action. 

 It is really the whole which does the "selection" in the 

 exercise of its central control. We may call it a case of 

 Holistic Selection as distinguished from external Natural 

 Selection. Variation A of the whole, which is the expression 

 of an inner urge of the whole and is therefore supported by 



