64
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Biology observes that, in all three cases, the treatment on
which this sub-division is based is the same in kind and only
differs in degree; the purpose all through is to enable Man to
behave as lord of Creation: the give, wherever contact
with Human Society occurs, must be an obligation on the animal
or plant concerned; the take must be the prerogative of Man.
But there is further evidence that, even where Man establishes
"symbiosis" with any animal or plant, the association is not
a balanced one: Human Society does not exhibit the har-
monious internal adjustment or the attractive external appear-
ance of any natural symbiosis in which Man is not a partner.
What may occur in such a symbiosis, even when the sequence
of meiosis and syngamy in the reproductive cycles of the partners
is reversed, can be traced with ease, especially if vegetative
conditions permit them to create a tertium quid with distinctive
characters and qualities. It is not always easy to follow what
occurs in some of the symbioses that go to constitute Human
Society, which is conditioned not only by the calculable variables
of space and time and climate, but also by the incalculable ones
of Man's emotions and will.
Whatever conclusion Human Society may eventually reach
as to the validity of Man's claim to be lord of Creation, Biology
will probably continue to think Man the most interesting member
of that symbiotic organisation. But whether Man be the most
important partner in the symbiosis, Biology is hardly able to
say. Apparently Human Society at present is disposed to
admit Man's claim, less on any evidence offered by Biology
than because Physical Science thinks Man has succeeded in
reducing space and time to a simple continuum. Human Society
knows that Physical Science has enabled Man to exchange
speech with the Antipodes; to travel by road or rail or air as
easily and almost as quickly as if he owned the magic carpet
of Persian fable; to build palaces almost as expeditiously as
if he possessed Aladdin's wonderful lamp. But Biology
observes that Human Society, aware of Man's foible for using
speech to conceal thought, asks for simultaneous television;
notices that Human Society's craze for speed remains unsatisfied
With an annual holocaust, on our roads alone, comparable
with the casualty-list of a Victorian military campaign; and
recognises that Human Society's enthusiasm for building, though