240 SYMBIOSIS 



associations d'Orchidees et de Rhizoctones n'est pas, a bcaucoup pres, une 

 loi universelle. II n'est pas moins admirable que des milliers d'especcs de 

 plantes, sujettes aux atteintes de champignons depuis 1'origine de leur 

 famille, presentent encore des individus capables de resister a ces notes 

 tout en vivant avec eux dans un 6tat d'intimite extreme, et il reste a 

 savoir comment cet etat de symbiose a pu s'etablir et a evolu6 chez les 

 ancetres des Orchidees actuelles. Cela ne peut etre qu'un suject de 

 rtfexions thtoriques, mais ces reflexions sont utiles a faire et susceptibles- 

 de quelque precision. (Itah'cs mine.) 



(Rhizoctonia are the fungi " infecting " the orchids in Prof. 

 Bernard's experiments.) 



As regards the evidence that the orchids are "selected" 

 by the fungi, to say the least, it is slender and even contradictory. 

 On our socio-physiological view, it follows quite logically that in 

 order that there shall prevail really harmonious relations between 

 orchid and fungus, the conditions must be somewhat specific 

 marking the degree of mutual aid and mutual forbearance. 

 And we should not even stop to think that any and every couple 

 of orchid and Rhizoctonia are fit for a life of partnership. Above 

 all we expect to find obedience to some basal law of Concord 

 by both partners in an association of real merit. In view of the 

 universal frailty of life so apt to set at nought the fundamental 

 biological concord, as in matters of food, for instance we 

 should expect to meet with numbers of fungi which, in Prof. 

 Bernard's words, are " imparfaitement prepares a la vie com- 

 mune," and we should expect, moreover, to find that frequently, 

 in a case of this sort, the compatibilities are of a kind to favour 

 a parasitic rather than a symbiotic relation. The chief truth 

 in these matters, which again I wish particularly to enforce, 

 is that which is totally omitted, if not implicitly denied by 

 the French Botanist, namely, that the path of Symbiosis, 

 although not necessarily the path of least resistance, is yet the 

 path of health the path most sanctioned by Nature. Prof. 

 Bernard is barred from such recognition by the fundamental 

 error that " immunity " and not " partnership " constitutes the 

 alternative of the state of mutual plunder leading up to disease. 



Like Darwin, he dwells upon the fact of the comparatively 

 poor distribution of the orchids in nature, " bien qu'elles 

 prodiguent leurs semences, chaque plante pouvant produire par 

 milliers ou par millions des graines impalpables." 



This sparse distribution of orchids is as puzzling to him as is 

 the frequency of " harmony " between orchid and fungus, which 



