THE ''GENERAL MORPHOLOGY" 211 



plant. Where in their case shall we find the 

 stages of individuality that correspond to the 

 animal-human ? The cells are distinct in both 

 cases. The individual plant-cell corresponds to 

 the individual animal-cell. But what is there in 

 the plant that corresponds to me, as the animal- 

 human multicellular individual ? Does the oak- 

 tree, for instance? Certainly, the oak is an 

 individual. But it seems that it is the single 

 sprout of it that corresponds to what I am. 

 What is the" relation of the tree to this sprout ? 



Here our ideas grow dim and confused. We 

 human^individuals unite to form certain higher 

 communities. The word ^^ social " reminds us of 

 the fact : then we have the nation, the race, 

 humanity. At least the earlier of these stages 

 certainly perform various combined functions, 

 and are understood to form, or wish to form, 

 new individuals. We speak of the social organism, 

 the body of the people, the soul of the people, 

 and so on. 



We see that still more clearly in the case of 

 the animals about us. Individuals, that corre- 

 spond to our conception of an individual man, 

 combine and form stocks and colonies, with 

 division of labour. We find this in the medusae, 

 corals, anemones, tunicates, and vermalians. One 

 of these animal stocks, to which our human social 

 combinations only correspond in a much wider 

 sense, gives us a stage that is represented by 

 the tree in the plant-world. Infinite perspectives 

 open out, and also infinite complications. Infinite 



