VITAL ACTION VS. NATURE-ACTION 199 



larger structural units of the living body, such as cells, 

 blood vessels, nerves, and other organs, except that these 

 changes take place more slowly. They are comparable 

 to the rearrangement of streets, service pipes, and 

 houses, which is constantly going on in a developing 

 city. 



Thus one of the basic attributes of living things, as 

 distinct from dead things, is their relatively greater 

 freedom of self-constructive action, their more labile, 

 purposeful organization. The constituents of a living 

 organism are free to move about among themselves, 

 and the organism itself, such as an animal, a family, or 

 a tribe, may move from place to place on its own power, 

 subject to definite restrictions ; but the internal method 

 of organization, and the constitution of the system, 

 which alone can give this freedom of action must and 

 does remain relatively stable. 



But a living plant, or animal, like a village, city, or 

 nation, never grows at the same rates at different times, 

 or in all its different parts to the same degree, because 

 all their constituent parts have a distinct individuality 

 of their own. By virtue of that individuality, growth 

 always takes place faster in some places, or in some 

 directions, or in some qualities, than in others. 



A village may grow into a city in many different 

 ways. But in whatever manner it may grow, its in- 

 dustrial and other vital centres, however conveniently 

 they may have been located and cooperatively bal- 

 anced in the beginning, will become unbalanced and 

 very inconveniently located with the growth of these 

 various centres, or with the mere increase of popula- 



