3o6 Mutual Aid as a Law of Nature 



cellule is an association of prodigious complexity. 

 As soon as the microscope permits us to enlarge 

 the cellule to a sufficient degree, we can see that it 

 is a whole world in itself. And each element of 

 the cellule, the nucleus, the chromosomes, are also 

 associations of elements still more infinitesimal, 

 which are beyond our vision. Strictly speaking 

 there are no protozoas, because all living beings 

 are associations. As for those organisms which 

 are called metazoas, they are associations consisting 

 of an enormous mass of smaller units. The body 

 of man is a union of some 460 trillions of cellules. 



The varieties of association which are found 

 in biology are almost infinite. Biologists tell us 

 that there are bonds of union, varying in impor- 

 tance from almost complete independence to 

 absolute interdependence, between the various 

 groups of protozas which form the cellules in 

 related species. Lichens, for example, exhibit 

 a form of association called symbiosis: they con- 

 sist of a union of algae and fungi. A still more 

 mutually advantageous relation exists between 

 certain algas and radiolarians which are so inter- 

 dependent that it is impossible for one to live 

 without the other. The bonds which unite them 

 are so intimate that they were for a long time 

 considered a single organism. 



In Nature the relationships between living 

 beings are of infinite diversity, ranging from the 

 most irreducible antagonism to the most complete 

 affinity. If when two beings enter into contact 



