AGENCIES, HABITAT, AND GROWTH 97 



cesses, and again liberated when better ways of supply- 

 ing its demands are found, that produces that orderly 

 progression from simple to complex, from disorgani- 

 zation to organization, which we call development, or 

 evolution. This eternal conflict of growth with itself; 

 this right readjustment of vital administration to its 

 own demands, and its failure to meet them, constitute 

 life and death, good and evil. It is the consistent 

 triumph of constructive methods over destructive ones 

 which makes growth and development the dominant 

 characteristics of life and nature. 



6. Limitations to Growth. At each succeeding 

 stage of growth, the keeping out of harmful agents, the 

 removal of those produced within, the discovery, and 

 the capture of supplies, and their equitable internal 

 distribution, demand more and more elaborate cooper- 

 ation and exacting service. Moreover the variety of 

 possible ways in which these vital constructive prob- 

 lems may be solved gradually becomes more and more 

 limited, or compulsory, while the constructive proc- 

 esses of growth follow one another in more definite 

 sequence and with a greater degree of stability and 

 regularity. 



But in spite of all the varied combinations and re- 

 adjustments that may be made, ultimately every grow- 

 ing thing reaches a more or less definite balancing point 

 between supply and demand where further growth is 

 impossible. This is clearly indicated by the fact that 

 all the most familiar objects in nature, such as atoms, 

 molecules, chromosomes, nuclei, cells, polyps, insects, 

 man, etc., never grow beyond well-defined limits in 

 mass, volume or organization. It may be assumed, 

 therefore, that it is impossible to maintain the con- 



