vm DARWINISM AND HOLISM 215 



cially in all the innumerable co-ordinations and co-adap- 

 tations in structure and function which constitute a living 

 organism. I believe it is generally admitted that this phe- 

 nomenon of organic co-ordination is one which cannot 

 be satisfactorily explained on mechanical principles. The 

 functioning of an animal as a whole has something unique 

 about it, and the term ''whole" in this connection is no 

 mere phrase but a fact of vital significance. We have 

 already considered the matter fully in Chapter VI. Here 

 we shall only add that to suppose that Natural Selection has 

 not only brought about the separate organs of animals and 

 their functions, but also accounts satisfactorily for their 

 adjustments to each other and their co-ordinated activities 

 in the animal behaviour, is to suppose what certainly has 

 never been and cannot be explained in detail, and what 

 probably is in conflict with the facts of development. Intel- 

 ligent and purposive action of a human or other animal 

 cannot be explained on mechanical principles; nor can in- 

 stinctive action, not even reflex or organic activities and 

 functions below the level of instinct or intelligence. An 

 animal — even of the lowest type — makes an unconscious 

 effort to catch food or beat an enemy, and in the process 

 performs a large number of acts which are all effectively 

 co-ordinated towards the attainment of its object. No 

 mechanical explanation of this process of co-ordinated move- 

 ments has ever been given. The animal acts as a whole, 

 with a unity and effectiveness of action which is no mere 

 mechanical composition of its movements. The concept of 

 the whole is the only category that will explain such unity, 

 and we have seen good reason in previous chapters to 

 go further and to infer that Holism is not merely a cate- 

 gory or concept, but a fact and a factor of far-reaching 

 significance. Co-ordination and co-adaptation in organic 

 structure and behaviour cannot be explained on any other 

 ground. 



So far we have considered Holism as creative of varia- 

 tions; and as regulating and co-ordinating groups of actual- 

 ised variations and organic characters generally. But this 



