BIO-DYNAMICS, 83 



variable external conditions ("work" in action and reaction!) gives 

 us the key with which research may open the door. In the lower plants 

 this dependence is at once apparent, every cell being directly subject 

 to external influences. In the higher plants with their different organs, 

 these influences are transmitted to cells in course of development along 

 exceedingly complex lines (establishment of ancestral dynamics !) In 

 the case of the growing-point of a bud, which is capable of producing 

 a complete plant (bearer of ancestral dynamics !) direct influences play 

 a much less important part than those exerted through other organs, 

 particularly through the roots and leaves, which are essential in nutri- 

 tion. (Italics mine.) 



The ancestral dynamics are the more powerful as reliable 

 components the higher the organism in the scale of evolution, 

 i.e., the greater the fund of symbiotic values has become. 

 Nutrition, as we have seen owing to its great bio-economic 

 importance, is a powerful component and a powerful direct 

 influence in its effects on roots and leaves and through those in 

 the long run on the ensemble of the organism. It is intimately 

 connected with work which is thus again seen to determine 

 firstly, the direct reactions of organisation, and secondly and 

 more slowly, by cumulative and correlated effects, the indirect 

 and more complex reactions. A concentration of ancestral 

 dynamics at the growing point is, of course, less readily 

 affected by new work and new connected influences than a less 

 concentrated and more virginal state at the outskirts. In 

 other words, the effect of new forces is there less conspicuous, 

 because they are acting upon a complex of stronger and more 

 ancient (racial) forces than at the outskirts. 



The same truth concerning the time-element in Bio- 

 Dynamics is expressed thus by P. Kropotkin : "A rapidly 

 established equilibrium of forces can be upset with the same 

 rapidity, whilst an equilibrium of long standing requires a 

 long time to be upset : this may be taken as a general law of 

 Nature." 



Klebs also mentions that "the state of the young rudi- 

 ment is the outcome of previous influences of the external 

 world communicated through other organs," which suggests 



G2 



