ON THE NATURE OF ANIMAL LIFE 7 



over-j)roduction of hydrochloric acid by the gastric glands of the 

 stomach we have acidity, and if there is under-production of 

 pepsin we have dyspepsia. When there is over-production of 

 secretion by the thyroid gland there is exophthalmic goitre, and 

 when the secretion is deficient there arises the condition of idiocy 

 called cretinism. If the secretion from the pituitary gland is 

 produced in excess there is malformation of the bones of the 

 face, and when there are abnormalities in the functioning of the 

 pineal gland (see p. 99) in young people there are consequent 

 aberrations in sexual development. When there is uncontrolled 

 proliferation of the cells of the mammary glands in women there 

 arises the most sinister of all diseases — cancer. 



And so on. The result of operative interference with the 

 animal body and the effects of disease are truly to set up partial 

 activity. Then we deal with a disharmonious complex of organs, 

 whereas the normal healthy animal is a harmony, an " unity in 

 multiplicity," an integration of activities. The diseased man is 

 a little less than animal, for something is wanting, and the dead 

 body is a structure — really an assemblage of inactive parts, and 

 not at all an animal. The heart taken from a tortoise will live 

 several days and continue to beat, but it is not an animal, and in 

 studying it we are making an analysis and are not observing a 

 living organism. 



We have insisted on the conception of the animal as an integra- 

 tion of activities, and more and more this is forced upon us, as 

 'we shall see in the study of the central nervous system. Now 

 it is interesting to compare the organism with the modern State ; 

 the comparison has often been made, far more often in a 

 spirit of sentiment or as the support for some propagandist object 

 than in the light of an accurate knowledge of biology. We intend 

 this book for the general student of social science, as well as for 

 those who seek culture, and so we make no apology for a refer- 

 ence to the comparison between the State and the organism. 



The Organism and the State. — Of course, the modern State is 

 not an organism, not even by analogy. The animal body is a 

 complex of cells, even as a polity is a complex of men and women ; 

 but the cells of the body are structurally connected, while the 

 '.units of a population are truly individuals, discrete and physio- 

 logically distinct from each other. Now let us neglect such a 

 difference between the two complexes — the organic and the 

 social ones— and ask the question, Does the activity of the 



