398 



THE AM ERIC AX XATURALIST 



[Vol. LII 



ism or being. Such orderly evolutional facts apply to 

 the development of all animal and vegetable multicellu- 

 lar beings (Fig. 2). 



Out of the essential living properties of a single cell 

 other cells develop which have in them an exaggeration 

 of some essential initial quality, each tissue representing 

 an exaggeration of some one quality. Such evolutionary 

 cytologic organization produces a communism of living 

 units, the combined apparent and dominant purpose of 

 which is to live and reproduce its kind. 



A biologist, if asked the ultimate purpose of life, would 

 shake his head and say he did not know, but asked the 

 immediate and dominant purpose, would say the protec- 

 tion of life and this protection even at the expense of life, 

 an apparent contradiction which has been recognized but 

 not comprehended even by scientists. The evidence of 

 this great protective purpose of living matter is too uni- 

 versal to be called to the attention of the least observing; 

 it works automatically and in a large degree independ- 

 ently of the will of living beings. 



This fundamental vital protective purpose forms the 

 basis of the following consideration of cancer's place in 

 general biology: It presupposes, and observation sub- 

 stantiates it, that, all living cells have natural antagonists 

 against which protection is necessary; and that there is 

 a conflict in nature during which there is constant build- 

 ing up and tearing down of things living. The human 

 body is no exception to this rule, as every physician and 

 layman knows. The tearing down is called disease, and 

 the rebuilding is called regeneration, repair and healing. 



The partial destruction of a human tissue by animate 

 or inanimate antagonists may be followed by its regen- 

 eration; the complete destruction may be followed by 

 repair or replacement, but not by its regeneration. 1 The 



em to be true when applied to some of the 



which by the pr 



