The Individual in Simpler Form

Abstract

THERE can be few experimental biologists who have worked on such diverse orders of animals as Prof. A. R. Moore. His interests have ranged from the formless masses of nucleated protoplasm known as Plasmodium to the elaborate architecture of the central nervous system of vertebrates. If there is a 'ladder of being', Prof. Moore might be said to have a foot on each rung. His recent book is called a “Monograph Study in Psychology” ; but his purpose is much wider than one might expect from this title. It is, he states in the introduction, to consider “the nature of individuality in embryogenesis and in animal behaviour” and to discuss “the meaning of ordered arrangement in giving coherence to the individual... in terms of increasing complexity”. This is a very large order, and such an endeavour might easily evaporate into verbose discussion or mere compilation from the literature. It is thanks to Prof. Moore's extremely wide experience that he is able to deal with a numerous series of forms of organisation, of ever-increasing complexity, and still select the main topics of discussion from fields which he has himself studied and in which he can make original contributions to the material.

The Individual in Simpler Form

By Arthur Russell Moore. (University of Oregon Monograph Study in Psychology, No. 2.) Pp. x + 143. (Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Press, 1945.)