CHAPT[ER VI 

 ORGANIC FORM AND ARCHITECTURE 



(Morphological) 



DEFINITIONS.— Morphology is the science of the structure of 

 living creatures, the study of all the statical aspects of organisms. 

 Thus it is the correlate of physiology, which is concerned with 

 activity or function, with vital dynamics and chemical reactions. 

 One may distinguish three chief tasks: (a) the description of the 

 organism as a whole and in all its parts — descriptive anatomy, 

 becoming histology when it deals with microscopic structure; 

 (b) the comparison of one organism with another, so as to discern 

 the deep resemblances on which a "natural" classification is based 

 (comparative anatomy and histology) ; (c) the discovery of laws of 

 organic architecture, the "principles of morphology". In the third 

 task the morphologist joins hands with the evolutionist. The 

 material of morphology may consist of creatures that were killed 

 yesterday, or of creatures that became extinct and were fossilised 

 millions of years ago; in the study of structure age makes no dif- 

 ference except that the analysis of fossils is usually more difficult. 

 Furthermore, since the morphologist may study an unhatched chick, 

 a tadpole and a caterpillar as well as a fowl, a frog and a butterfly, 

 no hard lines can be drawn between anatomy and descriptive 

 embryography, the difference being largely that the embryologist 

 is looking at the stages, to which he applies anatomical and histo- 

 logical methods, as chapters in a life-history. And while it is true 

 that the anatomist is focusing attention on structure not on func- 

 tion, it would be a very wooden study that regarded the life and 

 environment of the organism as irrelevant. An animal's shape, for 

 instance, must be thought of in relation to its movements in a 

 certain environment, and how can anyone intelligently dissect the 

 heart without considering its way of working? While it remains 

 true that the emphasis in morphology is on the statical aspects, 

 whereas the emphasis in physiology is on the dynamical aspects, 

 the study of structure and function, of function and structure, 

 must go hand in hand; and now increasingly do so. 



LEVELS OF MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS.— As already indi 

 cated, the physiologist studies the organism (i) as an intact unity 

 with certain habits or ways of living, (2) as a living engine with 

 parts or organs specialised for certain functions, (3) as a compli- 

 cated web of interwoven and interacting tissues, (4) as a city of 



