128 THE EVOLUTION OF CONTINUITY 



Arrest. 



It has to be noted here that arrest in the form of stop- 

 page or retardation of growth, the direct result of hostile 

 environment acting more or less suddenly, is not in question. 

 We are concerned with arrest which is the result of the 

 action of Environment as evolutionary force ; arrest which 

 first appeared as the product of Continuity, and which is 

 under control. We might call it the arrest of the differen- 

 tiated tissue or the fixed cell-species. 



In all forms of living growth the cycle runs its course 

 to end in the reproduction of one or both of the elements 

 whose union set it going, and Arrest resulting from Con- 

 tinuity can in greater or less degree limit the extent of this 

 (multiple) reproduction. It cannot, however, of itself totally 

 prevent the reproduction. What it can do is to take a 

 certain " amount " of the developing Individual, an amount 

 which if left alone would theoretically become in time an 

 enormous number of gametes, and cause this (assisted by 

 other factors) to multiply along the side-paths of cell-evolution 

 leading to fixed tissues. Behind all this there are, of course, 

 the factors which have all along worked for Continuity and 

 its intensification, and it is due to these that our own brains 

 and bodies appear as startling phenomena in the course of 

 sexual-element reproduction. Environment produces Con- 

 tinuity. Continuity produces Arrest. 



The different forms of living Continuity have shown us 

 that in all organisms composed of true tissue there is exhibited 

 the phenomenon of cell-Arrest ; the cells, in order to main- 

 tain the comparatively enduring tissue-structure, having 

 sacrificed all hopes of becoming gametes in their future 

 product. In compensation they are enabled to perform 

 wonderful functions for the general good. 



On the other hand, where an Individual's cells are pro- 

 duced in Discontinuity none should, theoretically, be arrested, 

 and the full Individual should be all gametes. In fact, 

 the law would seem to be that where the Individual is com- 

 posed of separate free units, be these cells, zooids, or mega- 

 zooids, the units in question can become sexual. It is only 

 environmental hostility which should be able to prevent 

 this. 



