158 VOLITION 



pendence for co-partnership, and their vague 

 freedom of action for definite special duties. The 

 bodies of the higher plants and animals are com- 

 posed of countless thousands of such cells, which 

 have undergone great changes of form in order 

 to become fitted for their particular functions. 

 But by this sacrifice of individuality, a new 

 individuality has been created, that of the mass of 

 cells, or organism, as a whole. We may perceive 

 here a fresh illustration of Life's indifference to 

 the means by which it achieves its purposes. 

 Individuality begins with the cell, but pursues 

 its development in cell-masses, the units of which 

 may have lost it. 







Below the limits of the sway of reason below, 

 that is to to say, the higher classes of the animal 

 kingdom volition is concerned with little else 

 than the control of movement, and it must have 

 become attenuated almost to extinction in those 

 organisms which have lost the power of moving 

 themselves. Plants, of course, illustrate most 

 typically this sacrifice of activity to convenience. 

 But there are multitudes of animals, notably of 

 the zoophyte class, which are also rooted in the 

 ground. At one stage in their lives, however, these 

 stationary animals and some portions of all plants 

 appear to manifest spontaneous movement. This 

 is during their embryonic growth, or in the process 

 of reproduction. The coral zoophyte and the 

 barnacle, during their larval stages, are free- 

 swimming and active : and the pollen grains of 

 flowers fertilize the ovules by developing a measure 

 of independent activity. So is kept alive the 

 impulse of mobility, which is one of Life's essen- 

 tial features, and is obscured, not extinguished, 

 even by so close an alliance with Matter as ties 

 the organism to the soil. 



