98 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1309 



subject to his own specific attributes and ex- 

 ternal compulsions. This new anarchist, by 

 force of circumstances, may be compelled to 

 help in the construction of proteids to be used 

 by some future plant or animal life, even if 

 his anarchistic soul does rebel at the per- 

 formance of such useless altruistic labor, and 

 at such tmwarrantable interference with his 

 freedom of action. 



If we now make a momentary excursion 

 toward the other extreme of nature-action, 

 into the domain of the astronomer, we appar- 

 ently find the same constructive, selective, and 

 saving agencies at work that are manifest in 

 the upbuilding of the molecule, only the sys- 

 tem and its component parts are larger, the 

 time and space factors greater, and the im- 

 knowable movers have different names. 



Here the cooperative agencies are the 

 sovereign cosmos, and the sovereign individ- 

 ualities it contains. These solar systems, 

 with their constituents suns, planets, and 

 satellites, and their subordinate elements, are 

 grouped in partially visible architectural en- 

 tities, suggesting the wholly invisible mole- 

 cular entities of physics and chemistry. 



The gains in this cosmic action-system are 

 formulated in sidereal architecture, and the 

 continuity of its constructive services is mani- 

 fest in the stability of its organization. The 

 morphology of the heavens, like that of mole- 

 cules and living organisms, is not only an 

 index of past and present physiologic action, 

 but an assuring prophecy of future action. 

 "Without this forward and backward aspect, 

 along a gradient line of progressive nature- 

 action, science itself could not exist, for there 

 would be no base line for the profitable orien- 

 tation of intelligent thought or action. 



In each of these larger sidereal units, and 

 systems of units, is embodied the smnmed 

 up profits of past cooperative actions. In this 

 self-construction lies the egoistic phase of 

 these individualities. The ulterior altruistic 

 services to which they are accessories are in 

 some measure apparent in the terrestrial con- 

 ditions under which, without our consent or 

 approval, we now exist. So let us get back to 



earth again, where these agencies have made 

 life and constructive thought a jiossibility, 

 and have rigidly defined its impossibilities, 

 whether we like these invitations, restrictions, 

 and compulsion of nature's discipline, or not. 



In the terrestrial world, the most con- 

 vincing and familiar example of creative 

 unity through cooperative action, is the living 

 organism. But plant and animal life stand 

 on, and in, the altruistic achievements of the 

 physical world. They are pensioners of the 

 past, using both the oldest and newest instru- 

 ments of nature in their self-construction. 

 The individual plant, or animal, is the product 

 of its cooperating elements, cells and organs, 

 and its environment, and is itself a cooper- 

 ative agent in that environment. It is sub- 

 ject to its own sovereign attributes, as well as 

 to those of its constituents and its habitat. 

 The individual gain is everywhere contingent 

 on the general. The plant can not long en- 

 dure without the animal, the male without 

 the female, and neither without their retinues 

 of other servants. They exist, as they do, 

 because of these mutual services, within and 

 without, past and present. Their profit is in 

 service betterments: their working capital, 

 past betterments conserved. 



In this phase of nature-action, the cooper- 

 ative system is formless, elastic, and demo- 

 cratic. Plants and animals are the actor- 

 imits, widely separated it may be, in time and 

 space, but everywhere intermingled regardless 

 of high or low degree. And the system now 

 assumes the familiar give and take of pre- 

 datory life and reproduction, where consmner 

 and consumed, parent and offspring, egoism 

 and altruism, perform reciprocal functions in 

 the universal metabolism of nattire-life. 



Consider, for example, the nut, the mouse 

 and the cat. 



If the mouse destroyed all the nuts, it 

 would destroy itself. Its interests are best 

 served when nuts are encouraged. If it had 

 intelligence, it would cherish and preserve 

 them. If it had the necessary cultural im- 

 plements, it might profitably spend its spare 

 time and energy in producing more and 



