BIO-DYNAMICS 121 



Modern biology looks upon the foetus as a living part of 

 the mother, and, hence, we may regard the species as a con- 

 tinuous whole. This really should do away with the 

 imputation of parasitism in the case of mammalian repro- 

 duction as though the temporary (sacrificial) attachment in 

 this case were on a par with the worst instances of attached 

 (i.e., obligate) parasitism! 



With such narrow views it is indeed difficult to approach 

 the problem of "heredity," which is nothing if not a problem 

 of values. 



In considering a species or a branch and its place and 

 value in the world of life (its heredity), we must ask ourselves 

 what is its total bio-economic output of work and of values. 



The branch is composed of symbiotics and likewise of anti- 

 biotics. 



As Prof. Bateson has it: 



We animals live not only by virtue of, but also in spite of, what 

 we are. 



It is the resultant of the interplay of symbiotics and anti- 

 biotics which determines the present value. What a species or 

 a branch is capable of projecting of such a resultant into its 

 progeny at any moment, that is its heredity. The first 

 question we have to ask ourselves is whether on the whole 

 symbiotics or anti-biotics predominate? 



