212 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



the whole, carries with it the minor and consequential ad- 

 justments involved in variations b, c and d. 



This explains one of the main difficulties which we encoun- 

 tered above — the question, that is to say, of the selective 

 co-ordination of subsidiary adjustments. But the main 

 difficulty remains how variation A itself is selected after 

 its appearance. How is the main small variation, perhaps 

 too insignificant for Natural Selection to get a grip on, 

 selected and conserved in the holistic system? If it were 

 a mere accidental appearance, with nothing more behind it, 

 it might be a toss up whether it is saved or lost, and generally 

 it is lost. With the prodigality of life itself, organic changes 

 are scattered broadcast like seeds, and most of them, with 

 nothing particular in the urge of the organism behind them 

 to give them continuous momentum, perish as soon as they 

 are born. But some are in a different position; they are 

 in the main direction of development, they are on the road, 

 so to say, on which the organism is travelling; they have 

 the whole weight of the organism behind them; they are 

 nursed and cared for, figuratively speaking; and in the end 

 they survive. Once more a case of Holistic Selection as 

 distinct from Natural Selection. And sometimes in these 

 cases, as we have seen, the organism has long before the 

 appearance of the variation begun to move in its direction. 

 The functioning of the organism has anticipated its future 

 structure. It has for many generations devoted a part of it- 

 self to a particular use; the part has in consequence under- 

 gone modification ; from an undifferentiated system of cells it 

 has been modified in certain respects so as to anticipate an 

 organ. When finally in the course of time this modification 

 is superseded by and merged into an organic variation, it is 

 in direct harmony with the needs and the practice of the 

 organism as a whole; the practice continues along with the 

 variation and becomes accentuated, the pressure of the 

 needs of the organism is behind the variation and probably 

 increases; and the variation, covered by the habitual 

 practice of the organism, and urged forward by the organic 

 needs, makes headway and has a fair chance of survival. 



