THE ECONOMY OF NATURE 3 



Mendelism, again, has shown that Domestication is frequently 

 a process of continuous loss. Everything was there in the wild 

 or independent state ; but with Domestication a process of 

 degradation set in and " factor " after " factor " was lost. 



Again, in the Journal of Economic Biology, June, 1915, Mr. G. 

 Massee points out that the leading idea in dealing with cultivated 

 plants is to intensify or develop to an abnormal extent either 

 the flowering, fruiting, or some desirable quality, and in so doing 

 there is a marked tendency to upset the physiological balance 

 of the plant and also to open the door to the spread of disease. 



It is, moreover, fairly generally known, as Mr. F. G. Aflalo 

 has said, that the wild sheep is a hundred per cent, cleverer than 

 the domestic animal; and again, the fruiting of the raspberries 

 under cultivation is a much more exhaustive task on the part of 

 the plant than Nature's fruiting of wildlings would be thus 

 showing losses under Domestication. 



Lydekker moreover says that in the wild state the pheasant 

 is content with one wife, but the so-called tame pheasant of our 

 coverts is a polygamist, which is a retrograde step on Herbert 

 Spencer's principle of Sociology as applied to pheasant society. 

 I could easily multiply instances showing the inferiority of 

 Domestication. 



There is thus an accumulation of facts showing that what 

 is bad practice in social life is also bad practice when applied to 

 the lower creation. Variation under Domestication should not, 

 therefore, have been relied on as a parallel to Nature's work of 

 progressive modification. 



On the other hand, Symbiosis is a far better guide to Nature's 

 method, since it is not only free from the blemishes of Domestica- 

 tion, but represents also the source of all wholesome accumula- 

 tion of what I call physiological capital which is essential to the 

 progress of organic life. Symbiosis teaches that in Nature as 

 in human life the best results are achieved by a system of 

 wholesome independent though interdependent labour. The 

 study of this principle provides every justification for Burke's 

 contention, practically identical with Bacon's, however differently 

 expressed, that " there is but one law for all, namely that law 

 which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, 

 justice, equity the law of nature and of nations." 



The lichen, for instance, presents a co-operative association 

 between an alga and a fungus, a union calculated to meet by 



