THE LAW OF CONCORD IN NATURE 29 



on our globe, Feeding and Breeding, Nutrition and Fertilisation 

 had in the main to be ordered in accordance with the requirements 

 of the symbiotic nexus ruling in the world of life that is to say 

 they are far from being mere self-regarding processes. Had 

 Darwin seen the importance of Symbiosis, as it is possible to-day, 

 he would scarcely have allowed himself to be influenced by 

 Hermann Muller's over-emphasis of propagation per se to say 

 that his own aphorism (as stated above) was " perhaps rather 

 too strongly expressed." 



We shall see hereafter that symbiotic systems leave the world 

 of life permanently the richer for their presence, and, what is 

 more, that they provide the increments of organic capital essential 

 to the arrival of new, more advanced and better equipped, races 

 of plants and animals. We shall find that the plant, for instance, 

 constantly produces essential organic substances in virtue of 

 Symbiosis a fact which, once thoroughly grasped, will make a 

 vast difference in biological and sociological interpretation. For 

 it reveals the truth that many important functions hitherto 

 regarded as predominantly self-regarding, are in effect pre- 

 eminently " other-regarding " in character. Strenuous organisms, 

 so long as they have not lost the seeds of the " virtues " 

 engendered in them by the normal course of Nature, affect each 

 other much as do the components of a Parallelogram of Forces : 

 they tend to produce a resultant equal to their combined value, 

 and, what is more, theirs being a case of living Dynamics, 

 i.e., Bio-Dynamics this resultant grows cumulatively in force 

 and tends more strongly every day to favour the dominance of 

 Symbiosis, i.e., to uphold the law of Concord, on our globe. 



It has been said that Nature is careful of the species, but 

 regardless of the individual. I should say that the method of 

 progressive evolution is to foster a symbiotic resultant rather 

 than to favour particular individuals or species in that merely 

 expedient way, for instance, in which the welfare of every creature 

 is supposed to be looked after by " Natural Selection," acting, 

 according to Darwin, " solely by and for the good of each." To 

 maintain and to increase the dominance of Symbiosis generally, 

 is all that is really wanted to ensure a tolerable security of life 

 concurrently with a certain measure of individual liberty of 

 action. This Bio-dynamic " pressure " or " resultant "- 

 producing aggregate force of Symbiosis is implied by the term 

 Symbiogenesis. The phrase : The operation of Symbiogenesis 



