16 ORGANIC DEPENDENCE AND DISEASE 



mers for a while ; their ontogeny or individual history here, 

 as often, reflecting the successive phases of development 

 through which their entire race has come. 



This ontogenetic fact referred to is so generally repeated 

 in other groups of the lesser animals that it may safely be 

 said of all which live their mature life encased in shells or 

 moored to other objects, that it is in their infancy alone 

 their normal life is expressed, and we know as well that the 

 pervasion which has set in to change a life of freedom and 

 independence has likewise set up changes of anatomy and 

 physiology which make the mature creature only the more 

 dependent by adjustment to his abnormal life. The de- 

 velopment history of the individual is an important record 

 for interpreting the status of that individual, whatever kind 

 of creature he may be. The boy is father to the man in a 

 very true sense when we apply it to ourselves or to any ani- 

 mal that keeps its independence throughout life. But the 

 boy, the young, the infant stage, is the only faithful reflec- 

 tion of the dignified past in the case of such creatures as 

 have lost their grip on normal living and have resorted to 

 the sheltered life. 



With these statements of cause and effect it is easy and 

 natural to ask and answer once more that venerable ques- 

 tion whether the perfection of life lies in the perfection of 

 adjustment. Independent living, freedom of locomotion 

 and range expose the individual to ever new dangers. 

 These the individual must quickly overcome or outwit; 

 otherwise succumb. The choice is quick, imperious and fi- 

 nal. To live is, for such independent creatures, an escape 

 or a victory. To call it a "struggle" for existence is to 

 designate it subjectively but very often it is exactly that, 

 a quick reaction of refined innervation or "wits," of the 

 weak against the strong. But to the larger problem, that 

 of those which have sought and found the easier way and 

 which have snuggled into personal comfort, as contrasted 

 with the struggles of the pathfinders of creation, there are 



