SECTION VIII 



the idea of organic growth — the law of organic 

 form — recrescence 



The Idea of Organic Growth 



We have to distinguish from one another (a) individual 

 (personal) growth, (h) the growth of the race (the species) or 

 phyletic growth. The latter is, however, merely the sum of 

 the modifications due to growth which the individuals of a 

 line of descent have undergone in course of time, by which 

 modifications, together with the separation between it and its 

 allies, the species is constituted. Usually personal (individual) 

 organic growth means the regular changes which take place 

 in a given organism under external influences (food, warmth, 

 light, gravity, etc.), and which are connected with an increase 

 in size ; for we assume that this growth depends on the 

 multiplication of the particles of the body, and accordingly 

 the assimilation of nutritive material enters largely into our 

 idea of the process. 



On the other hand, by organic growth I mean every 

 physiological change of structure which is naturally produced 

 in a given organism by external influences or by constitutional 

 causes, which is not morbid and not accidental, and which is 

 permanent, or only temporary because it precedes a further 

 stage of modification. 



