BIONOMICS 253 



dating the modes of differentiation and integration within certain 

 relational fields though he sometimes uses the latter word for mere 

 shrinkage in size. But what one asks and asks of him in vain, is just 

 how, within a connected scheme, the several relational fields in the 

 domain of nature are themselves related, and how they were themselves 

 differentiated. 



With " co-operation " we get the economic and quasi- 

 bio-economic Spencer. Again to quote Lloyd Morgan: 



It was amid phenomena which admitted of interpretation from the 

 biological, or quasi-biological, point of view that he found his most 

 congenial sphere of work and the one in which his method was most 

 effectively employed. The story of evolution is the story of inter-related 

 changes. In any organic whole there are certain salient features of 

 the historical sequence. The parts get more different from each other, 

 and they also get more effectively connected with each other; the 

 individual whole gets more different from its environment, and it also 

 preserves and extends its connexion with the environment; the several 

 individuals get more different from others, while their connexion with 

 others is retained and new connections are established. Nowadays these 

 central ideas may seem familiar enough; but that is just because 

 Spencer's thought has been so completely assimilated. 



The story of evolution is the story of inter-related 

 changes ! This, I hold, is due to the essentially symbiotic 

 character of the activities of life. 



When Spencer (rightly) says "manifestly that which is 

 essential to Life must be that which is common to Life of all 

 orders," we are again in complete agreement with him. All 

 things sharing with us the same biological necessities, the 

 same or kindred pleasures and vicissitudes, and inter-connected 

 in so many ways in the web of life, are possessed of life, and 

 therefore possessed (inter alia) of one and the same " feeling" 

 a feeling of relatedness and of solidarity. 



As regards Herbert Spencer's final definition which he 

 thinks the broadest and most complete, viz., "The continuous 

 adjustment of internal relations to external relations," we 

 must reject it as inadequate, especially as regards psychological 

 factors. This definition exaggerates the passivity of life, and, 

 according to his own warning, so abstract a formula is scarcely 

 fitted for biological purposes. 



