_Independence and Subordination of the Anatomical Elements._—The independence of the anatomical elements results from the fact that they are the real depositaries of the vital properties, the really active components. On the other hand the subordination of the parts to the whole is the very condition of the preservation of form in animals and plants. The architecture which is characteristic of them, the morphological plan which they realize in their evolutive development which they are ever preserving and repairing, form a striking proof of this. This dependence in no way contradicts the autonomy of the elements. For when with Claude Bernard and Virchow we study the circumstances we see that the element accommodates itself to the organic plan without violence to its nature. It behaves in its natural place as it would behave elsewhere, if elsewhere it were to meet around it the same liquid medium which at once is a stimulant and a food. This at least is the conclusion we may draw from experiments on transplanting, or on animal and vegetable grafting. Neither the neighbouring elements, nor the whole system act on it at a distance by a kind of mysterious induction, according to the ideas of the vitalists, in order to regulate the activity of the element. They contribute solely to the composition of the liquid atmosphere which bathes it. They intervene in order to provide it with a certain environment whose very characteristic physical and chemical constitution regulates its activity. This constitution may be some day imitated by the devices of experiment. When that result is achieved the anatomical element will live in isolation exactly as it lives in the organic association, and the mysterious bond which causes its solidarity with the rest of the economy will become intelligible. In fact, we may defer more or less the maturity of this prophecy, but there is no doubt that we are daily nearing its fulfilment. The general life of the complex being is therefore the more or less perfect synergy, the _ordered process_ of elementary lives. General death is the destruction of these partial lives. The nervous system, the instrument of this harmony of the parts, represents the social bond. It keeps most of the partial elements under its sway, and is thus the intermediary of their relations. The closer this dependence, the higher the development of the nervous apparatus, and the better, also, is assured the universal solidarity and therefore the unity of the organism. Cellular federation assumes the characteristic of a unique individuality in proportion to the development of this nervous centralization. With an ideal perfect nervous system the correlation of the parts would also attain perfection. As Cuvier said: “None could experience change without a change in the rest.”