148 SYMBIOGENESIS 



conspicuousness to a species and lead to all manner of adventitious 

 development apt to obscure the residual normal developments. 

 How well Plato's extraordinary biological insight fore- 

 stalled these conclusions, is evident from the following of his 

 remarks: " Some things are themselves such as that which is 

 present with them, and some not." 



As he speaks of disease in this connection, it is obvious he 

 wants to demonstrate the truth that organisms when they 

 become over-specialised to such an extent as to lose their true 

 symbiotic balance, show a striking conspicuousness of 

 adventitious (pathological) developments apt to obscure the 

 residual normal " characters." Such organisms are more like 

 that which, by their morbid appetites, they have attracted to 

 themselves, than that form which the species represented in 

 earlier and healthier times, a truth also borne out by embryo- 

 logical facts. " That, then, which is neither evil nor good, 

 sometimes when evil is present, is not yet evil, but sometimes 

 it has already become such." Thus Plato indicates how good 

 and evil strains compete for predominance, though apparently 

 outwardly all is peace peace, peace when there is no peace 

 and how anti-biotics may eventually prevail. He also shows us 

 how every encouragement of the latter must encourage evil 

 correspondences: "When, therefore, it is not yet evil, though 

 evil be present, this very presence of evil makes it desirous of 

 good, but this presence which makes it evil, deprives it at the 

 same time of the desire and friendship of the good." (Italics 

 mine.) It is clear that in all cases qualitative tests have to be 

 applied before we can know what "materials for variation" 

 we are dealing with, before we can deal adequately with 

 morphogenesis, or with genetic physiology. 



We have already inferred that normal organisms are those 

 which refuse to over-specialise in any direction so as to become 

 slaves to a peculiar environment or to particular circumstances. 



Plato really wishes to drive home the same lesson by 

 emphasizing that general integrity which we have already 

 found to be the best guarantee of a genuine symbiotic balance 



