212 The Unity of the Organism 



ferentials which make individuals, species, genera and so 

 on come out so importantly as in behavior. 



The evidence being now overwhelming that all organic 

 phenomena, including beliavior, are dependent upon physico- 

 chemical substances and forces, one of the most pressing ques- 

 tions of procedure in biological research is that of bringing 

 the older and, generally, less exact natural history aspects of 

 the science into closer, more vital cooperation with its newer 

 experimental and more quantitativel}^ exact aspects. Specif- 

 ically stated, work of the type long prosecuted by explor- 

 ing expeditions, botanical and zoological gardens, museums, 

 botanical, zoological and biological societies, and govern- 

 ment biological surveys ; and that of laboratories in the 

 strict modern sense, the morphological, physiological, and 

 bio-chemical laboratories, must join hands more closely and 

 effectively than they have heretofore to insure continued 

 progress in the organic sciences. Several movements of the 

 day in biology could be mentioned whose meaning, viewed 

 from our standpoint, can hardly be mistaken. Perhaps the 

 most conspicuous of these is that congeries of research ac- 

 tivities known as ecology. In spite of frequent deprecia- 

 tive comments about ecology, especially because of its in- 

 definiteness as to both content and delimitation, it has the 

 merit — from our standpoint the very great merit — of facing 

 organic nature as it actually is, that is, of having for its 

 subject matter the modes of life of organisms as nature 

 presents them, and hence of recognizing the laboratory as 

 an agency, but only as one among other agencies, for deal- 

 ing with its subject. As to method, while ecology recognizes 

 the indispensability of the laboratory and experimentation 

 in the narrow sense, it refuses to let such experimentation 

 usurp the whole of its interest and effort. 



So our study of the organism's integratedness as exem- 

 plified by its activities, that is, by its behavior, and by the 

 mechanism through which these activities are carried on. 



