i86 SYMBIOSIS 



complete au moment de la mort. Mais les moyens de defense de 1'orgamsme 

 vont plus loin encore et le sang renferme les phagocytes, ou fabrique par les- 

 glandes endocrines, les anticorps et autres antitoxines pour detruire les 

 microbes ou neutraliser les poisons qui ont franchi en fraude les barrieres 

 de Foctroi. II est done permis d'enoncer ceci : que vivre c'est letter. 



Let us say that every organism is under the obligation of 

 upholding its bio-economic integrity, and that this implies 

 maintenance of the symbiotic disposition, i.e., obedience to the 

 law of co-operation under penalty of disease and pain. If the 

 means of defence are, normally, as high as they are here admitted 

 to be, if they depend upon (phagocytic) Symbiosis, as here described, 

 and if the defensive power of the epithelia is dependent upon 

 proper nutrition, this renders it only the more evident that 

 its inherent integrity is the true safeguard of the organism. The 

 case, in other words, does not stand so chaotically as the constant 

 reference to " lutter " would make it appear, and the " lutte " 

 itself is largely a bio-moral " lutte." But he who says " lutter," 

 generally wishes thereby to shelve the inconvenient questions 

 as to sociology and the " inner nature of the organism." He 

 wishes to divert the attention from these subjects, a proceeding 

 which has the effect of converting the philosophy of life into 

 necrology, and of conducing to moral and intellectual damage. 

 No organism can live well without maintaining sufficient symbiotic 

 integrity this is the law of co-operation and the law of life. 

 Although Dr. Larger wishes to introduce an alternative "lutte " 

 to Darwin's " lutte pour la vie," he has yet overlooked the 

 fundamental alternatives to " lutte," which are : work and 

 co-operation. 



Consider the following symptoms of degeneration as 

 enumerated by Dr. Larger : 



Chez le degenere, toutes les fonctions de nutrition et de relation s'alter- 

 ent. La respiration et la circulation sont defectueuses. 11 en resulte une 

 hematose insumsante, d'ou : propension aux affections pulmonaires et 

 vasculaires, a I'anemie et a 1'arterio-sclerose notamment. La digestion 

 devient la dyspepsie , la sensibilite, le nervosisme. Le systeme muscul- 

 aire, mal nourri, mal innerve, s'atrophie. La fonction de generation sur- 

 tout subit les atteintes, les plus graves. Chez 1'homme, ce sont des troubles 

 genitaux varies, le conduisant a I'impuissance et a la sterilite. 



What does all this imply ? It implies a loss of " normals " 

 those of nutrition, of respiration and of circulation, and also 

 those of generation, which " normals " we have seen, broadly 

 speaking, to be the correlates of normal bio-economic behaviour. 



