From a biological point of view, it is of course meaningless to speak of over- 

 production so long as any portion of the population continues to be in want. 

 There might be at worst an unbalanced production, so that efforts which 

 should have gone into the making of shoes, for example, went into a surplus 

 of fiddlesticks. Whatever the details in such a crisis, a living system appears 

 to be thrown out of joint not because of any failure in the environment or in 

 the specialized functions, but because each member minded his own business 

 without regard to the relative amounts of his products that were needed. We 

 can see this if we compare the situation to that of a self-contained family that 

 produces what it needs with little regard to what others do, or fail to do. 

 Normally, satisfactory living was obstructed by shortages rather than by sur- 

 pluses. The important point for society as for the organism is balanced pro- 

 duction, distribution and use. 



It is not only the loss or injury of a specialized organ that may handicap 

 the whole organism, but also the overgrowth or excessive development of 

 some part. Such overgrowth or overfunction threatens the wholeness, or the 

 balance, of the body, particularly when it affects the nervous or the gland 

 system. In plants and animals too there may be faulty co-ordination, or un- 

 balanced functions, interfering with continued growth or development. 



If there is an overgrowth of some tissue, an enlarged thyroid, for example, 

 or a tumor, the surgeon may remove the surplus and restore the balance of 

 the organism's functions. We cannot so easily cut out superfluous farmers or 

 brokers or harness-makers. The distress which comes from disturbances in 

 the proportions of various functional or occupational groups suggests the dis- 

 advantages of overspecialization in society. But in time of war or of great 

 natural disaster, brokers and harness-makers can take on other functions. 



What Are the Physical Limitations on Total Life? 



Limitations in the Environment^ As we have seen, the adults of almost 

 any species would produce enough offspring to fill the earth or the ocean in a 

 relatively short time // all the eggs or seeds reached maturity, and if all in- 

 dividuals reproduced at the average rate. From the very nature of life, how- 

 ever, there are in every case too many requirements that cannot be met. 

 Few individuals in any species actually go through the entire cycle of growth 

 and development. What determines which ones are destroyed along the road, 

 and which ones will actually reach the end of the journey? Of a thousand 

 persons born at about the same time, the number living diminishes gradually 

 until none remain after about 100 years. 



The exceptional survival record of our population is possible, of course, 

 only because we have been able to obtain abundant food and to avoid various 



iSee No. 3, p. 538. 

 533 



