XXXVI PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
regated to be combined by vitality, giving organic bodies or aggre- 
gates, as plants and animals. These bodies do not permanently re- 
main such, as the matter of which they are composed sooner or later 
returns to the condition of combination due solely to affinity and 
gravity. They live and die. 
SUPERORGANIC COMBINATION. 
There are certain biotic bodies whose activities are combined. 
The first step in combination is the biologic differentiation of the 
sexes, giving a group of co-operative individuals for the activities 
of reproduction—male and female, parent and child. This initial 
combination is crudely developed into still larger combinations of 
co-operative individuals among the lower animals. With mankind 
it is developed to a much higher degree, resulting in a great variety 
of co-operative activities. 
There is found, then, a variety of methods of combination, in- 
cluded under three classes: physical, due to affinity and gravity; 
biotic, due to vital organization; and anthropic, due to related actiy- 
ities. Physical combinations result in the production of substances 
and aggregates, and the existence of a physical body is preserved 
by preserving identity of form and identity of constituent matter. 
Biotic combination also produces substances and aggregates, and 
the existence of a biotic body is continued by the preservation of 
identity of form, but not of identity of constituent matter. In an- 
thropic combination, substances and aggregates, as the terms are 
here used, are not produced, but biotic aggregates are interrelated 
in their activities through the agency of mind. 
In physical aggregates the relation of parts is that of interde- 
pendence, so that the constitution and form of each part are de- 
pendent on the constitution and form of every other part. This 
interdependence may be better comprehended by means of an illus- 
tration. In the aggregate the earth, the interdependence is exhib- 
ited in the relations existing between the incompletely aggregated 
bodies of minerals, known as geologic formations; the incompletely 
aggregated bodies of water, known as seas, lakes, streams, and 
clouds; and the incompletely aggregated bodies of air, known as 
winds. Air-currents gather the waters from the seas and pour them 
upon the lands. Rains and rivers disintegrate the rocks and carry 
them to the sea. Currents in the sea distribute the detritus over 
