254 SYMBIOGENESIS 



E.THE DEGREE OF LIFE VARIES AS THE DEGREE OF 

 CORRESPONDENCE. 



His universal process of Evolution is supposed to have 

 given Spencer a criterion of "higher" and "lower" 

 "progression" and "degeneration" independent of the 

 accidents of actual history, and " unattainable by strictly 

 Darwinian methods " (Encyclopaedia Britannica). 



"The higher (at least in times of evolution) is the more 

 complex and differentiated whether it invariably survives or 

 not" (Ibidem}. 



It is Spencer's merit to have provided a criterion of 

 "higher" and "lower" at all, though, as we shall see, it is 

 an unsatisfactory one, when Darwin's teaching apparently did 

 not justify any such deductions. Yet, as we have already seen, 

 it needed only an extension and a proper interpretation of the 

 invaluable spade-work done by Darwin as regards the 

 importance of biological inter-action, to arrive at a valid 

 standard of biological usefulness, congruous with the most 

 rational human methods of computation of values and of sift- 

 ing the grain from the chaff, i.e., the physiological from the 

 pathological. 



Spencer tells us that, " In life of the lowest order, we 

 find that only the most prevalent co-existences and sequences 

 in the environment, have any simultaneous and successive 

 changes answering to them in the organism." 



This is very true, but in addition it must always be 

 recognised that normally even with primitive life it is the bio- 

 economic contingencies that count most. 



How signally the great synthetic philosopher here fails to 

 do justice to the bio-economic view at once becomes apparent 

 when he continues: "A plant's vital processes display adjust- 

 ment solely to the continuous co-existence of certain elements 

 and forces surrounding its roots and leaves ; and vary only 

 with the variations produced in these elements and forces by 

 the sun are unaffected bv the countless mechanical and other 



