THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIFE OF OTHERS 299 



cient, and as new cells budded from the parent they 

 moved away and set up life for themselves. This 

 self-sufficiency leads to nothing in Evolution. Uni- 

 cellular organisms may be multiplied to infinity, 

 but the vegetable kingdom can never rise in height, 

 or symmetry, or productiveness without some radical 

 change. But soon we find the co-operative principle 

 beginning its mysterious integrating work. Two, 

 three, four, eight, ten cells club together and form 

 a small mat, or cylinder, or ribbon — the humblest 

 forms of corporate plant-life — in which each indi- 

 vidual cell divides the responsibilities and the gains 

 of living with the rest. The colony succeeds ; grows 

 larger ; its co-operations become more close and 

 varied. Division of labour in new directions arises 

 for the common good ; leaves are organized for 

 nutrition, and special cells for reproduction. All 

 the organs increase in specialization ; and the time 

 arrives when from cryptogams the plant world 

 bursts into flowers. A flower is organized for 

 Co-operation. It is not an individual entity, but 

 a commune, a most complex social system. Sepal, 

 petal, stamen, anther, each has its separate r61e in 

 the economy, each necessary to the other and to 

 the life of the species as a whole. Mutual aid 

 having reached this stage can never be arrested 

 short of the extinction of plant-life itself 



