282 THE BIOCOSMOS PARTICULARIZED. 



his own Form, which has been thrust upon 

 him by Nature without his consent, and thus 

 to crown his negative career with his own 

 final negation. 



In such manner the Form of the Animal is 

 cast in the mould of the species ; each individ- 

 ual being nearly, yet not quite, the same. *But 

 this slight variation of the individual accumu- 

 lates with the lapse of many generations, and 

 makes new species ; indeed all the diversity of 

 animal Forms is now traced to the one pri- 

 mordial Form out of which have evolved the 

 rest. Thus the individual, if time enough be 

 given, can vary his mould of Form, though 

 he cannot break out of it; he is seen to be a 

 kind of Fate-compeller even within the limits 

 of Nature. Darwinism has therein given a 

 new emphasis to the individual. But to this 

 slow variation of Darwin has now- been added 

 the sudden catastropic variation of De Vries 

 (the so-called Mutation), in which the individ- 

 ual may beget not merely another of the same 

 species, but of a wholly new species. 



1. The Animal Organism as a Whole. 

 We are first to take a glance at the animal 

 Form in its entirety before proceeding to its 

 external parts. Choosing man as the typical 

 Animal toward which all Life has evolved, we 

 observe his erect posture the result of a long 

 development in which the extremities (leg and 



