FITNESS 37 



inability to perceive clearly the questions 

 involved. 



Such is the purpose, and the justification, 

 for setting up the postulates of complexity, 

 regulation, and metabolism as inherent in 

 that mechanism which is called the living 

 organism. With them, at length, we face 

 the problem which awaits us. To what ex- 

 tent do the characteristics of matter and 

 energy and the cosmic processes favor the 

 existence of mechanisms which must be com- 

 plex, highly regulated, and provided with 

 suitable matter and energy as food ? If it shall 

 appear that the fitness of the environment to 

 fulfill these demands of life is great, we may 

 then ask whether it is so great that we can- 

 not reasonably assume it to be accidental, 

 and finally we may inquire what manner 

 of law is capable of explaining such fitness of 

 the very nature of things. 



