DIVISION OF LABOR 81 



organization. There are more different kinds of cells in 

 Hydra than in Volvox, and each kind is adapted to carry- 

 on a particular duty essential to the existence of the 

 whole. And not only is each structurally fitted for a 

 definite task, but in becoming a specialist it functions 

 more successfully. To reaUze the importance of this fact 

 let us examine it from another angle. 



Let us suppose that a man makes an automobile. He 

 constructs the essential parts and it runs, but, having to 

 perform all of the operations involved he is not especially 

 proficient in any one and the machine is a comparatively 

 crude affair. This state of things is comparable to what 

 exists in the amoeba where the life processes are carried 

 on equally well by almost any part of the body. The 

 original automobile manufacturer may become associated 

 with other workmen, who likewise make automobiles, 

 and the situation is duplicated by Gonium, where the 

 members of the community all behave in the same 

 manner. There is here little if any real advance. In 

 Volvox, on the other hand, we find that the cells of the 

 colony comprise two classes, and an analogous situation 

 in the factory appears when the workmen are divided 

 into two groups each with distinct types of work. An 

 increase in the number of workmen is not an essential 

 feature. It is now obvious that to reach the level of the 

 Hydra organization, where several types of cells are 

 cooperating in the performance of those functions essen- 

 tial to the life of the colony, the workmen require to be 

 divided into a corresponding number of groups, each with 

 its particular tasks. 



In the highest type of factories the different classes of 

 workmen are many, and each, having but one thing to do, 

 . becomes unusually proficient, so that the result of their 

 cooperation is a smoothly running, finished product. In 

 precisely the same way the higher species of animals and 

 plants occupy their position by virtue of the degree to 

 which the various cells of the body are divided into groups 



