THE PARALLEL GROWTH OF OPPOSITES 21 



there would be no changes in the environment but such as 

 the organism had adapted changes to meet ; it would never 

 fail in the efficiency with which it met them ; there would 

 be eternal existence, and universal knowledge. 1 Approxi 

 mation to this desirable end is measured by the number 

 of separate adaptations which have been accumulated, 

 and, as this is the same thing as the number of distinguish 

 able vital processes, it follows that the best adapted organism 

 is also the most complex. Complexity of organization, and 

 fitness to survive, are interchangeable terms. 



This theory, pleasant though it may be, gains no support 

 from a reference to the facts of experience. We may survey 

 the whole of nature without finding a single instance where 

 the number of adaptations has increased, while the number 

 of misadaptations has decreased, or even remained sta 

 tionary. What we find everywhere, in forward evolution, 

 is a simultaneous and parallel increase of both. The 

 difficulty and danger which attend our entrance into the 

 world is an instance of misadaptation which is almost 

 peculiar to the highest varieties of mankind. The ease 

 with which a savage woman gives birth is much more like 

 that of a wild beast. She will often deliver herself without 

 aid, and, subject to the ceremonial rules of the tribe con 

 cerning uncleanness, in a very little time she is able to 

 return to her usual occupations. 2 The same holds good of 

 the offspring. At no stage of life is the increased mis- 

 adaptation of the higher animals to their environment 

 more marked than in infancy. Even in the lower orders 

 of vertebrates the young are still able to maintain themselves 

 without the care of their parents ; in the higher orders, such 

 as birds and the more recently evolved mammals, the very 

 young are dependent on them for food and shelter. But 

 the full measure of infantile helplessness is only reached 

 in man, and the species is weighted in the struggle for 

 existence not only by the imperfect adaptation of the young, 

 but also by the onerous duties which are thereby imposed 



1 H. Spencer, Biology, i. 88. 



2 Hartland, Myth of Perseus, ii. 401. 



