FUNCTION AND ENVIRONMENT 183 



CHAPTER VI 



ORGANISM, FUNCTION AND ENVIRONMENT : 

 IN RELATION TO EVOLUTION 



The Conception of Life The Evolution Idea, its History 

 Theories of Evolution, Classified Relations between 

 Organism and Environment Indirect Importance of 

 Modifications The Role of Function The Living 

 Organism Theories of Vitalism Initiation into Psy- 

 chology. 



THE CONCEPTION OF LIFE. The definition 

 of life is the last, not the first, question for 

 the student of Biology. What we have to 

 do first is to study the actual happenings, the 

 changes, the movements, the activities that 

 go on under our eyes. It is only after we 

 have given careful study to the actual fact 

 of living which is a process, a dynamic 

 relation that we can profitably inquire into 

 the particular secret of the agent. 



By many who have begun at the wrong 

 end wrong from the point of view of scientific 

 method the conception of Life, the organ- 

 ism's secret, has to be left as a mystery, or 

 is mistaken as an entity. By others it is 

 thought of in terms of chemical substance, 

 like the " elixir " or " quintessence " of old, 

 or again in terms of modes of energy, which 

 are " physical " or " vital," to different 



