174 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



diate sources of which may or may not be recognizable, 

 producing, according to the degree of disturbance, or 

 control, what we call determination, perturbation, con- 

 duct, or behavior; or, briefly, more or less constructive, 

 or destructive, action. 



When the pathways are less distinct, less frequently, 

 or less regularly utilized; when moving objects are 

 widely separated in time or space, and mutual influ- 

 ences are less in evidence, as in the great social system 

 of plant and animal life, or in the narrower social life 

 of man, the impression of architectural unity is reduced 

 to the vanishing point, and no longer commands our 

 attention. Each individual thing then appears to act 

 independently, or in ways peculiar to itself; yet the co- 

 operative coherency and structural unity is still there, 

 as inexorable as ever. 



It is because of the infinite variety of architectural 

 details, precise and definite in each individual thing, 

 and in all their subordinate parts, that this apparent 

 freedom and precision of movement is possible. 



It is evident that no one individual thing can con- 

 tain all the necessary functions, or instruments, of con- 

 struction. Hence, whenever one method of growth at- 

 tains its own constructive limits, its products must then 

 themselves become constructive instruments, or agents, 

 playing their respective roles on a more comprehensive 

 scale. 



If a jelly-fish had all the wisdom of Solomon, it 

 could not utilize that wisdom in self-saving or self-con- 

 structive acts. The external agencies necessary to in- 

 telligent action cannot gain access to a jelly-fish; but 

 even if they did, the jelly-fish could not respond to them 



