116 SYMB10GENES1S 



occurred as the result of sundering the protoplasts from all communica- 

 tion with one another for the period of time during which they remained 

 contracted in the strong salt solution. 



A "strong" salt solution means surfeit and poison, and is 

 known generally to have a retarding effect upon plant 

 physiology, as we have seen such causes to have upon the 

 developments of symbiosis and of sex, pari passu with retard- 

 ing evolutionary bio-economic and bio-social effects. 



The protoplasm contracts and turns " unsocial " in the 

 presence of food unsuitable for the proper discharge of its 

 bio-economic function. It seeks isolation rather than union. 

 The disunion in a few days obliterates the mutual relationship 

 existing between cell and cell, which revert to a more 

 primitive condition. We thus see that whilst a suitable nutri- 

 tion provides the influence under which a number of individual 

 cells may bind themselves together into a colony, obversely an 

 unsuitable nutritive stimulation has the effect of sundering the 

 protoplasts from all communication with one another. The bonds 

 of society (symbiosis) are snapped asunder, as Carlyle says in 

 reference to the anarchy prevailing in France during the great 

 Revolution. It is, indeed, true that the co-ordination 

 (co-operation !) to form an organism is bound up with mutual 

 interchange of material (trade!), but it is a definite contribu- 

 tion that is wanted from every individual if a definite union is 

 to result. Though there may be slight differences of character, 

 there must be sufficient symbiotic influence affecting the 

 character of the individuals in a manner sufficiently uniform 

 and sympathetic to aid them towards the combination into a 

 greater and similarly sympathetic (symbiotic) organism. This 

 common bond of co-operativeness is provided by such a nutri- 

 tion as lends itself most to co-operative purposes generally, 

 which is most compatible with domestic and bio-economic 

 efficiency, viz., symbiotic nutrition. 



The essential contrast between two modes of life has thus 

 again been very distinctly brought home to us. Again we reach 

 the indispensable conclusion that it is the symbiotic mode alone 



