Abstract
THE ORGANISM AND ENVIRONMENT.—In an article on “The Organism and its Environment” (Scientific Monthly, March 1922), Dr. F. B. Sumner emphasises the difficulty of drawing any sharp line between these two categories. Citing as examples the nest of a hird, the tube of a caddis-worm, the shell of a mollusc or a tortoise, the varying fluids and gases which circulate in animals from sponges to fishes or seals, and the many metabolic changes of substances entering or leaving the body, he shows that the distinction between organism and environment must often be difficult or arbitrary. Some of his remarks have a direct bearing on the discussion of biological terminology which has taken place recently in this journal. Thus he says, “Every character has a hereditary basis” and is likewise due to “interaction… with the… environment.” He goes on to say, “The familiar question, Which is the more important, heredity or environment? is not capable of answer when stated in that form”; he points out that the question should be framed on these lines: Are the differences between related organisms in any particular case due to differences in heredity or to differences in environment? When stated in this way it is seen that some characters or differences are primarily due to heredity and some to environment, and the quibble about all characters being equally acquired and equally inherited ceases to be of scientific value.
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Research Items. Nature 109, 456 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109456a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109456a0