INDIVIDUALITY. 249 



the facts is not without its difficulties. Something seems to 

 be gained by restricting the application of the title indi- 

 vidual, to organisms which, being in all respects fully devei- 

 opedj possess the power of producing their kind after the 

 ordinary sexual method, and denying this title to those in- 

 complete organisms which have not this power. But the 

 definition does not really establish this distinction for us. On 

 the one hand, we have cases in which, as in the working bee, 

 the whole of the germ-product is aggregated into a single 

 organism; and yet, though an individual according to the 

 definition, this organism has no power of reproducing its 

 kind. On the other hand, we have cases like that of the 

 perfect Aphis, where the organism is but an infinitesimal 

 part of the germ product, and yet has that completeness 

 required for sexual reproduction. Further, it might 



be urged with some show of reason, that if the conception of 

 individuality involves the conception of completeness, then, 

 an organism which possesses an independent power of repro- 

 ducing itself, being more complete than an organism in which 

 this power is dependent on the aid of another organism, is 

 more individual. 



74. There is, indeed, as already implied, no definition 

 of individuality that is unobjectionable. All we can do is to 

 make the best practicable compromise. 



As applied either to an animate or an inanimate object, 

 the word individual ordinarily connotes union among the 

 parts of the object and separateness from other objects. This 

 fundamental element in the conception of individuality, we 

 cannot with propriety ignore in the biological application 

 of the word. That which we call an individual plant or 

 animal must, therefore, be some concrete whole and not a 

 discrete whole. If, however, we say that each concrete 



living whole is to be regarded as an individual, we are still 

 met by the question What constitutes a concrete living 

 whole? A young organism arising by internal or external 



