CHAPTER V 

 THE LAW OF SYMBIOTIC MODERATION 



THE application of the important law of symbiotic moderation is 

 strikingly shown in the phenomena of sexual Symbiosis, as will 

 be seen from a brief consideration of some of the data of Vege- 

 tative and Sexual Reproduction, to be gleaned from Prof. J. B. 

 Farmer's Plant Life. 



Reproduction, in its simplest and most primitive form, 

 according to this Botanist, is one of the most obvious results of 

 growth. "It represents, after a fashion, and in a certain tangible 

 form, the balance of profit over expenditure on the part of the 

 individual, which is applied to the extension of the business of 

 the species or race." 



This commendable attempt at an economic interpretation 

 of the reproductive process, is yet, in my opinion, rather incom- 

 plete. It does not allow for the difference between a false and a 

 genuine " business," a false or genuine " profit," which difference 

 yet exists and depends upon "sociological" or bio-social factors, 

 analogous to those governing the growth of wealth in human 

 societies. 



The nutritional processes (so we are told) which enabled growth to 

 proceed have prepared the way for, and have then given way to, a new 

 set of chemical processes, and these result in the cleavage of the mass into 

 smaller parts. (Italics mine.) 



Here again we have a confirmation of the fact that bio- 

 chemical processes are anything but primary determinants in 

 organic developments. They are, on the contrary, themselves 

 determined by nutritional processes, which, as we have seen, are 

 in turn regulated by psychical and bio-economic factors, i.e., by 

 the use the organism makes of its powers of autonomy and of 

 industry. With these qualifications, it may be said that nutri- 

 tional processes, by directing the bio-chemical processes, determine 

 the phenomena of reproduction, simple or complex, as Prof. 

 Farmer insists they do. Simple cell -multiplication, according 

 to Prof. Farmer, is most often determined by " an abundant 

 supply of nutrition." 



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