FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   >>  
cells of the different kinds of labor. [Sidenote: Plurality of the Individual] As the result of such differentiation, the pluricellular organism, as it comes ultimately to be evolved, is composed of many different kinds of cells. Each has its special function. Each has its field of labor. Each lives its own individual life. Each reproduces its own kind. Yet all are bound together as elements of the same "cell society" or organized "cell state." Among pluricellular organisms man is of course supreme. He is the one form of animal life that is most highly differentiated. [Sidenote: Combined Consciousness of the Millions] Knowing what you now know of microscopic anatomy, you cannot hold to the simple idea that the human body is a single life-unit. This is the naive belief that is everywhere current among men today. Inquire among your own friends and acquaintances and you will find that not one in a thousand realizes that he is, to put it jocularly, singularly plural, that he is in fact an assemblage of individuals. [Illustration: MICROSCOPIC STUDIES IN HUMAN ANATOMY, PRIVATE LABORATORY, SOCIETY OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY] Not only is the living human body as a whole alive, but "every part of it as large as a pin-point is alive, with a separate and independent life all its own; every part of the brain, lungs, heart, muscles, fat and skin." No man ever has or ever can count the number of these parts or cells, some of which are so minute that it would take thousands in a row to reach an inch. "Feeling" or "consciousness" is the sum total of the feelings and consciousness of millions of cells, just as an orchestral harmony is a composite of the sounds of all the individual instruments. [Sidenote: Evolution of the Human Organism] In the ancient dawn of evolution, all the cells of the human body were of the same kind. But Nature is everywhere working out problems of economy and efficiency. And, to meet the necessities of environment, there has gradually come about a parceling out among the different cells of the various tasks that all had been previously called upon to perform for the support of the human institution. This differentiation in kinds of work has gradually brought about corresponding and appropriate changes of structure in the cells themselves, whereby each has become better fitted to perform its part in the sustenance and growth of the body. [Sidenote: The Crowd-Man] When you come to think th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   >>  



Top keywords:
Sidenote
 

consciousness

 

gradually

 
perform
 

pluricellular

 

differentiation

 
individual
 

instruments

 

Evolution

 
millions

Organism

 

orchestral

 

composite

 
feelings
 
harmony
 

sounds

 

number

 

muscles

 
independent
 

Feeling


thousands

 

minute

 

necessities

 

structure

 

support

 

institution

 

brought

 

fitted

 

sustenance

 

growth


working

 

problems

 
economy
 

efficiency

 

Nature

 
ancient
 

evolution

 

previously

 

called

 

separate


environment

 

parceling

 
STUDIES
 

animal

 

highly

 
supreme
 

organisms

 
differentiated
 
Combined
 
microscopic