BIONOMICS 243 



the vitamines are of vital importance, demonstrates that their 

 business has always been to deal with the corresponding sub- 

 stances, and that hence their evolution was the result of a 

 long-continued ingestion of appropriate (i.e., biologically 

 reciprocal) food. We can thus understand the similarity 

 of stimulation by certain internal secretions of the 

 body to that exercised by certain vegetable drugs, for the 

 stimulations are essentially of the same nature. We can also 

 understand how it is that mild doses of certain vegetable 

 extracts may be useful in restoring a better physiological 

 balance. 



As we have already seen in the case of the evolution of the 

 mammary gland and of the corpus luteum, they have arisen 

 symbiogenetically pari passu with increasing productiveness, 

 increasing symbiosis and increasing complexity of the web of 

 life. 



The product of the mammary gland is milk a "love- 

 food" of the first order. "Le lait, bien qu' elabore dans le 

 corps de 1'animal, est une substance vegetale," says Rousseau. 

 It is worth noting in this connection that milk bears striking 

 similarities to another kind of "love-food," the symbiogenetic 

 importance of which (particularly in connection with 

 mammalian evolution) we have already noted, viz., nuts. 

 Nuts are exceedingly rich in fat which (like that of milk) is 

 already in a state of emulsion, i.e., ready made (prepared or 

 pre-digested, as it were) for circulation through the lymphatic 

 system. Nuts also contain a high percentage of albumen which 

 is easily assimilable and does not form uric acid, i.e., they con- 

 tain albumen that lends itself to symbiogenesis rather than to 

 pathogenesis. Whilst fairly rich in carbohydrates (starch and 

 sugar), nuts are three to four times richer in vitally important 

 mineral salts than animal flesh and even milk. The medicinal 

 properties of many nuts have been well recognised. Cocoanut- 

 milk, indeed, very appropriately reminds us of the reality of 

 the symbiogenetic importance of nuts in particular and of 

 "love-foods" in general. 



K 2 



