26 INDIVIDUALITY IN ORGANISMS 



somehow be constructed before it can run. Actually, 

 however, the organism runs throughout its construction 

 from the condition of amorphous protoplasm to that 

 of a complex anatomical system. 



Modern investigation of the chemistry of the organ- 

 ism has demonstrated that the chemical correlations, as 

 they are commonly called, which exist between its parts 

 are most various and complex and often highly specific 

 in character. Certain parts produce substances which 

 are essential to the normal activity or structure of other 

 parts, and the statement is frequently made that every 

 organ in the body is an organ of chemical correlation, 

 which means merely that it produces something which 

 plays a role in making other parts what they are. 



On the basis of these facts the hypothesis has been 

 advanced, and is at present widely current, that the 

 unity and order in the organism consist primarily in such 

 chemical correlations. These chemical correlations de- 

 pend upon the production and transportation within the 

 organism of more or less specific substances, and it is 

 evident that parts more or less specifically different 

 must be present in order to produce such substances. 

 These hypotheses provide no solution of the real prob- 

 lem of individuality, for they all involve the assumption 

 of an underlying order or "organization" which makes 

 orderly chemical correlation possible. To return to the 

 analogy between the organism and the state, exchange 

 between human beings arises from the existence of differ- 

 ent individuals with different needs. In order that the 

 exchange may be orderly and specific in character some 

 degree of unity and order must exist in the activities of 

 the parties to the exchange. This order may result 



