72 COSMIC PEILOSOPSY. [pt. ii. 



in which process we have seen that life consists, must ne- 

 cessitate both the differentiation of the organism and the 

 integration or definite combination of the changes which 

 constitute its activity. For as the life becomes higher the 

 environment itself increases in heterogeneity as well as in 

 extent. The environment of a fresh-water alga is, as Mr. 

 Spencer remarks, limited to the ditch or pool in which the 

 alga lives. The acaleph borne along on a wave of the sea 

 has a much more homogeneous environment than the cater- 

 pillar which crawls over leaves ; and the actions by which 

 the caterpillar must " meet the varying effects of gravita- 

 tion," are far more heterogeneous than the actions of the 

 acaleph. In the case of the higher animals, not only is 

 their environment extremely heterogeneous as consisting to 

 a great extent of adjacent organisms which stand to them in 

 the relations of enemies, competitors, or prey ; but it also 

 presents highly coordinated actions on the part of these 

 organisms, which must be met by highly coordinated actions 

 on the part of the former. Thus with the increase of the 

 organism in heterogeneity, definiteness, and coherence, its 

 environment increases in heterogeneity and presents more 

 definite and coherent relations to which the organism must 

 adjust itself. And in this way the heterogeneous, definite, 

 and coherent activity of the organism is again enhanced. 

 The corollary from this group of truths is one which will 

 nearly concern us when we come to treat of the Evolution 

 of Society : it is this, — the greater the amount of progress 

 already made, the more rapidly must progress go on. 



