36 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



bution of a host of other things, upon whose right con- 

 veyance the whole fabric of life and creative power 

 depends. 



The objection may be raised that cooperation im- 

 plies a conscious, intelligent act. So it does, usually, 

 but not always. An act may be cooperative, no matter 

 how it is initiated, or whatever the nature of the actors 

 may be. Strictly speaking, although preeminently co- 

 operative, human intelligence is powerless to complete 

 a cooperative act. Intelligence is merely a more direct 

 and certain method than blind chance, or trial and 

 error, of finding the "right way" to let things do the 

 desired act themselves. It is the purposeful opening 

 and closing of certain channels of conveyance, thereby 

 permitting a serviceable, creative act to take place. 



The chemist, for example, cannot make an atom of 

 hydrogen cooperate with one or more atoms of oxygen, 

 or alter in any way the nature of the cooperative act 

 that may take place between them. All he does is to 

 act as an agent of conveyance, a servant to remove 

 obstructions and to bring the two elements into the 

 "right relations" to each other. When that is done, 

 the elements themselves automatically enter into a co- 

 operative, or chemical union, in accordance with their 

 specific qualities, and in so doing create something 

 which is different from either constituent. This atomicj 

 union is a truly cooperative act, because it cannot b< 

 performed by either element alone. It must be per- 

 formed in concert, by a mutual exchange of services^ 

 each element giving something of itself, we know 

 what, to the other, and receiving something, we knoi 

 not what, from the other. Thus each in its own pe- 



