104 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



for what it gains. It does, indeed, gain a relatively 

 secure position, and acquires enormous powers of 

 growth and reproduction. But the more its system of 

 parasitic living is perfected, the more it loses through 

 degeneration. In extreme cases, it may lose its digestive 

 organs, sense organs, brain, and appendages, and thus 

 practically all its powers of responsive movement, and 

 its freedom of action. 



Whether the degeneration, in a given case, is wholly 

 due to the parasitic mode of life, or whether an already 

 crippled organism is compelled to adopt the only 

 method of life by which it is then possible for it to 

 survive, is not altogether clear. Both factors have 

 doubtless played some part. But the point is imma- 

 terial here, for in any case the degeneration is both the 

 index and the product of diminished cooperation. 

 Viewed from the standpoint of growth and evolution, 

 it is clear that the combination of two lives, one acting 

 as host, the other as parasite, is an unrighteous, non- 

 constructive act, because the product of previous con- 

 structive action is thereby in part destroyed, and the 

 possibilities of further construction greatly diminished, 

 or prohibited. 



Thus all parasitic mergers are inherently non-cre- 

 ative, and tend toward mutual destruction, rather than 

 toward mutual growth and mutual self-preservation; 

 for the more successful the robbery of one member by 

 the other, to that extent the power of service in both 

 members is diminished. And the attainment of better 

 defensive and offensive means by one, against the other, 

 means correspondingly bad conditions, or death, for 

 both. 



