172 SYMBIOSIS 



the survival of the species, though, of course, obviously increas- 

 ingly curtailing adult existence. When is a disease not a disease ? 

 When it is an " adaptation." But, it must be " une adaptation 

 parfaite," Dr. Larger would probably add. Even parasites, how- 

 ever, scarcely begin their career of profligacy with " adaptations 

 parfaites." Nor are these parasitic adaptations "parfaites," as 

 the author himself is obliged to admit. This is how he expresses 

 his scruples : 



Toutefois, si Ton n'a pas raison d'appeler les parasites des Degeneres, 

 ce serait peut-etre exagere de dire qu'ils sont absolument normaux. II 

 est certain, en effet, que si le Parasitisme, n'est pas la Degenerescence, il 

 est non moins incontestable qu'il y prepare le terrain pour 1'avenir. 



If Parasitism is not quite normal, after all, what kind of disease 

 or malady does it represent ? 



From the acknowledgment of Parasitism as a preparatory 

 stage of " Degenerescence," it should not be too great a step to 

 the recognition that a lapse in the parasitic direction constitutes 

 quite usually the preparation for pathological states. It is 

 merely a matter of discerning the roots of disease and of recognising 

 a disease as such long before it has become acute or malignant. 

 Unable to deal adequately with Parasitism, Dr. Larger finally 

 places it in the borderland between normal evolution and " Contre- 

 Evolution," and, having got it thus safely out of the way, lets 

 well alone. The thought of " mis-adaptation " has apparently 

 never occurred to him. He postulates " Inadaptation " (in the 

 end) as distinguished irom " Adaptation " (in the beginning), 

 and he has a convenient way of arriving at the one by the other 

 by the further postulation of " Semi-adaptation," a kind of 

 intermediary stage " ou les mutations sont les unes adaptatives 

 et les autres inadaptatives, sur le meme sujet " in fact " des 

 cas mixtes," where " 1'adaptation generale, vu la solidarite des 

 organes " becomes deficient. 



Is this not a case of imperfect function where the autonomy 

 of the organism is at fault, such as it is in all cases where 

 the organism yields to temptations apt to determine it in the 

 parasitic direction ? But the author arrives at his " mutations 

 semi-adaptatives " without the invocation of autonomy, a factor 

 which, according to the prevailing fashion in Biology, is burked 

 as much as possible, or referred to usually with contemptuous 

 remarks concerning the metaphysical eyewater of the user of the 

 term. If we consider the following passage, it becomes clear 



