The Principles of Biology, Volume 1 (of 2)Spencer, Herbert
Science
The Principles of Biology, Volume 1 (of 2)
Spencer, Herbert
Biology
Even were not the connexion between length of life and complexity of life
thus conspicuous, it would still be true that the life is great in
proportion as the correspondence is great. For if the lengthened existence
of a tree be looked upon as tantamount to a considerable amount of life;
then it must be admitted that its lengthened display of correspondence is
tantamount to a considerable amount of correspondence. If, otherwise, it be
held that notwithstanding its much shorter existence, a dog must rank above
a tortoise in degree of life because of its superior activity; then it is
implied that its life is higher because its simultaneous and successive
changes are more complex and more rapid--because the correspondence is
greater. And since we regard as the highest life that which, like our own,
shows great complexity in the correspondences, great rapidity in the
succession of them, and great length in the series of them; the equivalence
between degree of life and degree of correspondence is unquestionable.
§ 33. In further elucidation of this general truth, and especially in
explanation of the irregularities just referred to, it must be pointed out
that as the life becomes higher the environment itself becomes more
complex. Though, literally, the environment means all surrounding space
with the co-existences and sequences contained in it: yet, practically, it
often means but a small part of this. The environment of an entozoon can
scarcely be said to extend beyond the body of the animal in which the
entozoon lives. That of a freshwater alga is virtually limited to the ditch
inhabited by the alga. And, understanding the term in this restricted
sense, we shall see that the superior organisms inhabit the more
complicated environments.
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