2 MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



is an organism, the biologist declares that an organism 

 is a society. 



A society is an organized whole, the unity of which 

 consists in, and is measured by, the mutual dependence 

 of its members. The living body is an organization 

 of individual cells with the same bond of unity. The 

 principle of organization in both cases is the division 

 of labor or function. The primitive social aggregate 

 • — the undifferentiated germ of society — is composed 

 of practically like units, with like simple needs. Every 

 ore 4,8 a factotum, fulfilling all needs in and for himself. 

 I , ill self-dependence and no mutual dependence. 

 1 he coherence of the whole is so slight that it can 

 break up into as many parts as there are individuals, 

 without the sacrifice of a single tie or condition essential 

 to existence. 



In course of time, division of labor comes into play, 

 and with it social organization has its beginning. The 

 different members, instead of doing all sorts of work, 

 and aiming only to supply their own individual wants, 

 begin to limit themselves to such work as their tastes, 

 capacities, surroundings, etc., commend to them. This 

 concentration of effort, which Coleridge, in his theory of 

 life, has defined as "the tendency to individuation," 

 both strengthens and improves the productive power, 

 thus enabling a few to do the work of many. Each 

 class of specializers produce in excess of their own 

 needs, and through the exchange of these surplus prod- 

 ucts the needs of all are supplied. 



The social integration that accompanies such division 

 of labor may best be seen under conditions conceived 

 as simple as possible. Let it be assumed that we have 



