﻿WITH 
  THE 
  DOMAIN 
  OF 
  THE 
  INORGANIC 
  57 
  

  

  intensified 
  cannibalism 
  ; 
  but 
  they 
  have 
  often 
  taken 
  the 
  form, 
  

   as 
  Darwin 
  emphasised, 
  of 
  some 
  experiment 
  in 
  co-operation 
  

   and 
  socialisation, 
  of 
  some 
  new 
  departure 
  which 
  gives 
  the 
  next 
  

   generation 
  a 
  better 
  start 
  in 
  life. 
  All 
  theory 
  apart, 
  our 
  

   picture 
  of 
  animate 
  nature 
  is 
  fundamentally 
  out 
  of 
  perspec- 
  

   tive 
  unless 
  we 
  recognise 
  that 
  a 
  large 
  proportion 
  of 
  the 
  time 
  

   and 
  energy 
  of 
  living 
  creatures, 
  whether 
  in 
  the 
  fighting 
  line 
  

   or 
  safe 
  for 
  the 
  time 
  being 
  in 
  organised 
  entrenchments, 
  is 
  

   devoted 
  to 
  securing 
  not 
  self-preservation, 
  but 
  the 
  welfare 
  

   of 
  the 
  race. 
  Nature, 
  as 
  Goethe 
  said, 
  is 
  continually 
  taking- 
  

   advantage 
  of 
  her 
  children's 
  " 
  capacity 
  for 
  self 
  -forget 
  ful- 
  

  

  ness 
  ' 
  

  

  Whenever 
  the 
  circumstances 
  are 
  critical, 
  and 
  there 
  is 
  in- 
  

   equality 
  or 
  diversity 
  in 
  the 
  response 
  that 
  living 
  creatures 
  

   make 
  to 
  their 
  environing 
  difficulties 
  and 
  limitations, 
  a 
  proc- 
  

   ess 
  of 
  sifting 
  begins 
  to 
  work, 
  the 
  process 
  of 
  discriminate 
  

   elimination 
  familiarly 
  known 
  as 
  Natural 
  Selection. 
  This 
  

   also 
  will 
  engage 
  our 
  attention 
  later, 
  but 
  in 
  the 
  meantime 
  

   let 
  us 
  not 
  assume 
  that 
  the 
  conventional 
  statement 
  of 
  the 
  

   process 
  tells 
  us 
  the 
  whole 
  truth. 
  Just 
  as 
  the 
  struggle 
  for 
  

   existence 
  is 
  often 
  more 
  accurately 
  described 
  as 
  an 
  endeavour 
  

   after 
  well-being, 
  so, 
  in 
  thinking 
  of 
  Nature's 
  sifting, 
  we 
  go 
  

   astray 
  if 
  we 
  think 
  of 
  it 
  as 
  at 
  all 
  haphazard 
  (that 
  is 
  a 
  con- 
  

   tradiction 
  in 
  terms), 
  or 
  as 
  directed 
  only 
  to 
  self-preservation, 
  

   or 
  as 
  being 
  necessarily 
  sanguinary, 
  or 
  as 
  a 
  process 
  in 
  which 
  

   organisms 
  simply 
  remain 
  like 
  passive 
  branches 
  for 
  the 
  prun- 
  

   ing-shears. 
  As 
  a 
  sagacious 
  naturalist 
  has 
  well 
  observed, 
  

   though 
  somewhat 
  too 
  paradoxically, 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  so 
  much 
  that 
  

   Nature 
  selects 
  the 
  organisms 
  fittest 
  to 
  her; 
  it 
  is 
  rather 
  that 
  

   each 
  organism 
  selects 
  the 
  natural 
  conditions 
  fittest 
  to 
  itself. 
  

  

  