70 SYMBIOSIS 



mechanistic explanation, therefore, is incomplete, and it is evident 

 that this is also the impression left upon the reviewer's mind. 

 He says that he cannot agree with Professor Crile's view that all 

 these wonderful attainments and the " registration of adapta- 

 tions " have been effected by mechanical formulae. " We are 

 unable to believe," he continues, " and we have found nothing 

 in this vigorous volume to incline us to transfer the author or 

 ourselves from the category of organism to any other." 



" Organism " we thus still remain and as such we are rather 

 above the mere chemical or physical system. We are in fact 

 the controllers or directors of these systems to a considerable 

 extent, as of all bio-chemical wealth the secret of success in 

 every kind of wealth being work. In the last analysis, all 

 bio-chemical stimulation is seen to involve bio-economic 

 stimulation. That is to say that the compounding of bio- 

 chemically active substances is essentially due to the operation 

 of Symbiosis, though its hall-marks may not be conspicuous 

 on the surface of things. We noticed in previous chapters how 

 numerous agencies, hitherto believed to be " chemical," are in 

 reality " biological " ; and, where their work is beneficial, we 

 have found that it was never a very far cry to Symbiosis. 



Organism, then, must be regarded as almost synonymous 

 with worker, just as metabolism is almost synonymous with 

 functional activity. It would be as well if in all future biological 

 dissertations the term " organism " connoted work. Such 

 connotation would be a good beginning towards the abolition 

 of the present indeterminateness of biological concepts. 



It is a tenet of Psychology that an object must make a 

 sufficient " appeal " to the attention in order that a " lively " 

 interaction between mind and object may arise, and a mental 

 attachment leading to further developments of mind may ensue. 



In other words, a living connection re-calling the interaction 

 of partners in Symbiosis is wanted. The more interaction, the 

 more progress. " Appeal " suggests the existence of some 

 latent Sympathy between object and mind. One might ask : 

 Whence come the possibilities of " lively " interaction and what 

 is their significance ? Object and mind evidently are of some 

 importance to each other, and their inter-relation is of importance 

 also to the world at large. If the mental attachment is to be 

 fruitful in permanent good effects, there must be fulfilled the 

 requisite condition of wide biological usefulness, which alone 



