84 
growth, or development of the individual 
beyond the point reached by its ancestors. 
Natural selection operates in the manner 
set forth in the current hypothesis, only the 
result is confined to holding in check and 
regulating the cycles of individual develop- 
ment, not to producing them. Environ- 
ment affects the organism, both directly 
and indirectly, as Lamarck and the Neo- 
Lamarckians claim, but the effect is in the 
way of checking and then controlling 
variation. 
The organism is in all respects dependent 
for its resources upon environment. Liv- 
ing is a constant process of occupying, using 
and discarding matter, and therefore any 
structure or function developed by the or- 
ganic body is either profitable to the con- 
tinuance of the living individual, or it is not 
profitable. Any modification of structure 
has a definite economic value to the indi- 
vidual ; if its benefit does not equal its cost 
in energy its production is an unprofitable 
venture and is either not repeated or the 
individual is crippled and finally lost by 
the operation of natural selection. If the 
organism, for any cause, acquires surplus 
energy it is expressed in variation, and if 
the variation is to the advantage of the in- 
dividual, 7. e., if the resources of new energy 
resulting from its presence exceed the ex- 
penditure for its construction and mainte- 
nanee, the result is beneficial and the new 
structure is retained and a step in advance 
is made. 
Thus the condition of environment, from 
the old point of view, seems to cause the 
organism to vary; in the new view, the or- 
ganism adjusts and keeps adjusted to its 
environment by the law of internal economy, 
not by the external struggle for life. 
It isnot neeessary, here, to suppose that 
there must be a specific conscious adjuster 
residing in each organism. We do not 
find it necessary to imagine a specific erd- 
geist in order to cause the earth to follow 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. VI. No. 133. 
the intricate curve of its revolution among 
the other planets and about the sun. Nor 
is it necessary to assume, as Professor 
Bailey puts it, that ‘‘ definite variation is 
an inherent or necessary quality of or- 
ganic matter,’’* but given this general law 
of variation as an intrinsic property or 
mode of operation of every particle of 
living matter, and the phenomena of life 
will result—in the lowest stage as metabolic 
phenomena, then in the second stage as 
individual development and, also, in the 
third stage as evolution, by simply con- 
tinuing their activities. And the same 
power which can constitute variation 
among the phenomena of matter, other- 
wise controlled by the inflexible physical 
laws of inertia and conservation of force, 
can, doubtless, institute in living matter 
that still higher function, consciousness, 
with all the wonderful phenomena which 
are associated with it. 
The significance of this theory is consid- 
erable, both scientifically and philosophi- 
cally. From a scientific point of view, 
variation or variability is recognized as the 
very essence of the vital phenomena, as 
gravitation is recognized as an essential 
characteristic of matter. Life is as re- 
markable (but perhaps no more so) as that 
sudden demonstration of expansion which 
inelastic water or rigid ice exhibits when 
raised to 212 degrees of Fahrenheit. We 
might study ice and water for eternity under 
temperatures below the boiling point and 
never discover the properties of steam So, 
whether the vital phenomena are latent in 
matter or not is a matter of speculation. 
Whenever vital phenomena appeared they 
appeared in phenomena exhibited by mat- 
ter. Whenever inorganic matter becomes 
vitalized, however that result may be ac- 
complished, variation takes place and dis- 
tinguishes it from matter in every other 
condition. 
** The Survival of the Unlike,’ p. 22. 
