/J-//? April, igiS- 



Professor Lindsay, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., in the Chair. 



"THE WEB OF LIFE." 

 By Professor J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., LL.D. 



{Abstract.) 



All true naturalists have been keenly aware of the inter- 

 relations of living creatures in Nature, which is what we mean by 

 the Web of Life, but Darwin's realisation of it is unsurpassed. In 

 the living body we are familiar with the correlation of organs, part 

 being bound to part in subtle integration ; there is a larger 

 correlation of organisms in the system of things which we call 

 Nature. 



The phrase "Web of Life" is a metaphor, but none the less 

 true. It suggests a woven fabric, whose warp and woof are 

 " hunger " and " love," whose changing pattern through the ages 

 is what we call evolution. The phrase also suggests the web of a 

 spider, often an intricate system, with part delicately bound to 

 part so that vibrations pass through the whole, and the fabric is 

 made one. So Nature is a vast system of linkages in which 

 isolation is imjjossible. 



Living may be described as action and reaction between 

 organisms and their environment, and the dependence of living 

 creatures on appropriate surroundings is a primary illustration of 

 our theme. Huxley compared a living creature to a whirlpool in 

 a river, and although the metaphor must not be pushed too far 

 (organisms having, for instance, a capacity of persistent experience 

 and of giving rise to others like themselves) it is very suggestive. 

 The whirlpool and the organism are always changing, yet for long 

 periods they seem to remain the same ; matter and energy stream 

 in and stream out of both ; both have a certain individuality and 

 unity. We cannot understand either apart from their environment ; 



