THE UNITY OF THE ORGANISM 



Chapter I 

 INTRODUCTORY 



Historic Background 



EVERY biologist is familiar with the phrase "the organ- 

 ism as a whole." It occurs over and over again, par- 

 ticularly in later 3^ears, in written and spoken discussion 

 touching a wide range of subjects; and the essential idea, 

 expressed in different tenns, is still more common. To at- 

 tempt an exhaustive list of instances of the use of the 

 phrase or its equivalents would be profitless, but enough 

 must be said both at the outset and at various places 

 along the way to furnish a secure historic foundation for 

 the enterprise we are undertaking. 



In its earliest infancy the science of living beings pre- 

 sented two theories apparently diametrically and irreconcil- 

 ably opposed to each other. Stating the case in familiar 

 terminology, according to the one the organism is explained 

 by the substances or elements of which it is composed, while 

 according to the other the substances or elements are ex- 

 plained by the organism. * Since it will be necessary to 

 refer frequently throughout our discussion to these two 



* The word "explain" calls so loudly to be itself "explained" when 

 used in this offhand way that one reluctantly lets it go unheeded even 

 temporarily, but it must be passed now with this sole remark: whatever 

 meaning may be attached to it in one of the above propositions, exactly 

 the same meaning must it have in the other. 



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