172 SYMBIOGENESIS 



wealth by " doing well " (work), and what continued it was 

 the subsequent "doing, better, best" which under many 

 fluctuations led to varying hereditary and genetic phenomena 

 and to varying degrees of compatibility. The main theme the 

 "leitmotif" was symbiogenesis, the rest only "variations" 

 of that theme. 



With such provisoes we will accept Prof. Bateson's state- 

 ment that Genetic Variation is primarily the consequence of 

 additions to, or omissions from, the stock of elements which 

 the species contains. I should simply say that the fact that a 

 species has become richer or poorer in values expresses itself in 

 commensurate variations whether in numbers or quality. 



Prof. Bateson also states (" Heredity and Variation in 

 Modern Lights," contributed to "Darwin and Modern 

 Science") that the greatest advance that we can foresee will 

 be made when it is found possible to connect the geometrical 

 phenomena of development with the chemical. " The 

 geometrical symmetry of living organisms is the key to a know- 

 ledge of their regularity, of the forces which cause it." 



On the importance of this factor of symmetry, Prof. 

 Bateson has indeed long insisted. I have likewise now for some 

 twenty years been considering the biological significance of 

 symmetry and of proportion in Nature. My conclusion is that 

 important principles of normality, i.e., of cosmic utility 

 (character), permitting of adequate and unimpeded mutual 

 serviceableness and of reliable and world-wide reciprocal 

 differentiation, are involved in what we call the felicity, the 

 chaste austerity, purity and beauty of natural forms. I have 

 spoken of the biological law of definite proportions in this con- 

 nection, on the analogy to the similar chemical law. A 

 physical analogy exists even as regards impurities. The 

 presence of such in each case results in a combination and 

 aggravation of the injurious " morphogenetic " effects of such. 

 Cessation of work is universally followed by loss of symmetry 

 and of proportion, and I have connected the phenomenon with 



