THE TETRAKINETIC THEORY 281 
namely, first, the energy complex of the organism, which is perishable 
with the term of life of the individual, and second, the germ or heredity 
substance, which is perpetual. 
3. The idea that the germ is an energy complex is an as yet un- 
proved hypothesis; it has not been demonstrated. The Heredity-Germ 
in some respects bears a likeness to latent or potential interacting 
energy, while in other respects it is entirely unique. The supposed 
‘erm energy is not only cumulative but is in a sense imperishable, self- 
rerpetuating, and continuous during the whole period of the evolution 
of life upon the earth, a conception which we owe chiefly to the law of 
the continuity of the germ-plasm formulated by Weismann. Some 
of the observed phenomena of the germ in Heredity are chiefly 
analogous to those of interaction in the Organism, namely, directive 
of a series of actions and reactions, but in general we know no complete 
physical or inorganic analogy to the phenomena of heredity; they are 
unique in nature. 
4. With the multiplication and diversification of individual or- 
ganisms there enters a new factor in the environment, namely, the 
energy complex of the Life Environment. 
Thus there are combined certainly three and, possibly, four com- 
plexes of energy, of which each has its own actions, reactions, and 
interactions. The evolution of life proceeds by sustaining these 
actions, reactions, and interactions and constantly building up new 
ones: at the same time the potentiality of reproducing these actions, re- 
actions, and interactions in the course of the development of each new 
organism is gradually being accumulated and perpetuated in the germ. 
From the very beginning every individual organism is competing 
with other organisms of its own kind and of other kinds, and the law 
of the survival of the fittest is operating between the forms and func- 
tions of organisms as a whole and between their separate actions, 
reactions, and interactions. This, as Weismann pointed out, while 
apparently a selection of the individual organism itself, is actually a 
selection of the heredity-germ complex, of its potentialities, powers, 
and predispositions. Thus Selection is not a form of energy, nor a 
part of the energy complex; it is an arbiter between different com- 
plexes and forms of energy; it antedates the origin of life just as 
adaptation or fitness antedates the origin of life, as remarked by 
Henders ~~ 
Thu urrive at a conception of the relations of organisms to 
