196 SYMBIOGENESIS 



within its substance of polarities and correlations derived from 

 millions of ancestors each of whom has contributed a 

 fraction." 



But the mere derivation from ancestors of anything what- 

 ever cannot very well be considered an ultimate cause (even so, 

 however, Sir Edwin is constrained to associate the term with 

 "contributions," i.e., "work" of individuals, and we can at 

 least understand how r the systematic effort ["work"] of long 

 generations to establish valuable correlations has tended pari 

 passu to form the character, as expressed in polarity, of a 

 species). It can, in fact, only be subsequent to the acquisition 

 of something, presently fixed enough to be transmitted for 

 good or for evil ; and the view here taken that the production 

 of form, like the establishment of capital and of correlations, 

 ultimately depended on work, seems more rational, more 

 explicit, and more adequate as an explanation of ancestral 

 dynamics and their value than the mere word "polarity" as 

 used by Sir E. Eay Lankester. 



Vochting speaks of " polarity " as a fixed inherited 

 character, a definition which, though more a statement than an 

 explanation of the facts, at any rate would seem to emphasise 

 " character." 



Klebs finds this definition of Vochting' s insufficient, " as 

 nothing can be deduced from our present knowledge as to the 

 causes which led up to polarity." (Italics mine.) He thinks 

 one great cause of polarity must be seen in the flow of food- 

 substances. The flow of substances, however, we have seen to 

 be ultimately determined by symbiotic (bio-economic) factors. 



GoebePs conclusion (Einleitung in die experimentelle 

 Morphologie der Pflanzen, Chap. Y.) also seem to point to the 

 mutual adaptation for work and for reciprocal food-supply on 

 the part of the plantagens as the chief determining factors of 

 polarity in plants. 



He is of opinion (p. 223) that "die lebenden Zellen nicht 

 nur als Leitungsbahnen fur Baumaterialien, sondern auch 

 fur die Leitung von Reizen, die von einem Organ auf ein 



