OBJECT AND LIVING ORGANISM 115 



The inferiority of an organ in one individual when com- 

 pared with the same organ in another of the same kind is a 

 matter for pathology, and has nothing to do with evolution. 



In spite of our dissent from the doctrine of evolution, 

 it would be childish to deny that there are higher and lower 

 organisms. But we must confine ourselves to showing that 

 there are animals with more numerous, if not necessarily better 

 organs ; and these we call " higher '' animals because they are 

 so rich in organs and in functions. 



If we wish to speak of an evolution from lower animals 

 to higher, we must in the first place get quite clear as to what 

 function the organ serves in the case selected, and what 

 position that occupies in the framework of the whole — whether 

 it is a subsidiary function, a part function, or a whole function. 

 For only then can we pass on to the essential questions, i.e. 

 whether indeed there is any such thing as a gradual passage 

 from one function to another, and whether a new function 

 can arise gradually. 



When we examine our own functions or actions, which 

 have their faithful reflections in the counter-actions of our 

 implements, we come to the conclusion that every performance 

 of a function, whereby it becomes an action, consists of an 

 independent sequence of impulses, which forms throughout an 

 isolated unity. If I want to walk, run, or jump, I must 

 impart to myself a quite definite impulse-sequence, which puts 

 the organs into the corresponding degree of activity. If I con- 

 struct a staircase to climb up, or a chair on which to sit, the 

 implement so formed should also give the impression of being 

 an isolated unity. There are, however, a great many different 

 kinds of chairs, which fulfil the same function in a more 

 or less perfect way. And here we have yet a further illustra- 

 tion of the imperfection of our implements ; they cannot 

 bear comparison with perfect organs. For organs never show 

 this ambiguity ; they may, as in the case of our legs, serve 



