44 MAN AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



consideration of the body. It is now as reasonable 

 to explain a muscular reflex or an internal secretion by 

 its utility in the life of the organism, as to explain the 

 webbed foot of an amphibian or the teeth of a carnivore 

 on the same basis. 



In like manner those functions which have been 

 arbitrarily classified as "physical," "mental," "moral " 

 and "social" have been created by factors in the envi- 

 ronment during the struggle for existence. In order 

 to apply this viewpoint to the adaptive processes of 

 man, it is necessary to divest the organism of all powers 

 of action save that of response to stimuli, and to regard 

 every vital manifestation in which man is directly or 

 remotely concerned as but one phase of the organism's 

 adjustment to environment by means of the transforma- 

 tion of energy in response to physical stimuli. On this 

 basis a physiological process is an evoked phenomenon, 

 dependent for its manifestation upon the impingement 

 of some specific form of energy in the internal or the 

 external environment. According to the law of conser- 

 vation, this transmitted energy produces its own 

 equivalent in a new form, which in turn may affect 

 other forms and forces in the environment. Man is 

 thus essentially a transformer of energy which is de- 

 rived from the environment and ultimately is re- 

 turned to the environment. 



The reactions which compose the life of man and 

 of other organisms are the result of the inevitable 

 effects produced in a sensitive structure by an activating 

 environment. In other words, the life processes of 

 any organism depend upon the evolved mechanism by 

 which it reacts "adaptively." 



