FUNCTION AND ENVIRONMENT 201 



it will not develop fully. Again, we know 

 that changes in function have great individ- 

 ual importance. By force of smiting one be- 

 comes a smith. Even if there be no multi- 

 plication of muscle-fibres after the more 

 strenuous function began, each fibre is 

 larger and worth more. Contrariwise, disuse 

 means deterioration; when we rest too much 

 we rust. No one has ever doubted the 

 individual importance of functional modi- 

 fications. Further, although the transmis- 

 sion of a functional modification remains un- 

 proved, the secondary and indirect results 

 may influence the germ-cells and the off- 

 spring. It is idle to say that what living 

 creatures do or fail to do has no racial im- 

 portance. Another certainty is that by its 

 activity a living creature, being no mere 

 puppet of fate, may alter the whole situa- 

 tion. This, again, may have evolutionary 

 interest, even if it ends fatally. Admitting 

 all this, can we say more.f^ 



The Living Organism. — The secret of 

 Life is baffling to the human intelligence, 

 refusing to be formulated. Often the con- 

 ception of Life has seemed to biologists to 

 be within reach, and then it is perhaps far- 

 thest away. It recedes as we approach. Yet, 

 though intelligence fails, do we not at times 

 come nearer to it through sympathy? Words- 



