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  THE 
  ISSUES 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  

  

  on 
  by 
  impulses 
  and 
  instincts 
  which 
  are 
  as 
  compelling 
  as 
  

   hunger 
  and 
  thirst, 
  but 
  the 
  satisfaction 
  of 
  these 
  rarely 
  makes 
  

   for 
  individual 
  advantage. 
  Indeed 
  it 
  is 
  often 
  fatal. 
  Repro- 
  

   duction 
  is 
  often 
  not 
  merely 
  the 
  distant 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  

   individual's 
  death, 
  but 
  has 
  death 
  as 
  its 
  immediate 
  nemesis. 
  

   In 
  some 
  higher 
  animals 
  love 
  is 
  its 
  own 
  reward 
  and 
  the 
  

   parental 
  life 
  is 
  enriched 
  by 
  the 
  family, 
  but 
  this 
  is 
  true 
  only 
  

   of 
  a 
  minority. 
  Even 
  sexual 
  gratification 
  is 
  as 
  often 
  absent 
  

   as 
  present. 
  According 
  to 
  Goethe, 
  Nature 
  holds 
  that 
  for 
  the 
  

   pains 
  of 
  a 
  lifetime 
  it 
  is 
  fair 
  payment 
  to 
  get 
  a 
  couple 
  of 
  

   draughts 
  from 
  the 
  tankard 
  of 
  love. 
  But 
  many 
  animals 
  have 
  

   only 
  one 
  draught 
  and 
  many 
  none 
  at 
  all. 
  How 
  many 
  insects 
  

   there 
  are, 
  with 
  a 
  parental 
  solicitude 
  and 
  an 
  elaborateness 
  of 
  

   care 
  that 
  strikes 
  one 
  dumb, 
  who 
  have 
  not 
  even 
  the 
  psychic 
  

   reward 
  of 
  seeing 
  the 
  offspring 
  for 
  the 
  good 
  of 
  which 
  they 
  

   more 
  or 
  less 
  unwittingly 
  spend 
  themselves. 
  

  

  Professor 
  Cresson 
  (1913) 
  has 
  done 
  a 
  notable 
  service 
  in 
  il- 
  

   lustrating 
  with 
  accuracy 
  and 
  learning 
  the 
  extent 
  to 
  which 
  

   there 
  is 
  subordination 
  of 
  the 
  individual 
  to 
  the 
  species. 
  There 
  

   is 
  the 
  physiological 
  cost 
  of 
  producing 
  germ-cells, 
  so 
  obvious 
  

   in 
  some 
  fishes 
  ; 
  of 
  nourishing 
  the 
  young 
  before 
  birth 
  famil- 
  

   iarly 
  great 
  in 
  most 
  mammals 
  ; 
  of 
  feeding 
  the 
  offspring 
  after 
  

   they 
  are 
  hatched 
  or 
  born 
  as 
  in 
  many 
  insects 
  and 
  almost 
  

   all 
  birds 
  and 
  mammals. 
  There 
  is 
  the 
  danger 
  and 
  exhaustion 
  

   of 
  reproduction, 
  for 
  many 
  female 
  organisms 
  die 
  of 
  it, 
  and 
  

   the 
  drone-bees 
  are 
  far 
  from 
  being 
  the 
  only 
  males 
  that 
  are 
  

   sacrificed 
  on 
  the 
  altar 
  of 
  sex. 
  

  

  Taking 
  birds, 
  for 
  instance, 
  we 
  are 
  all 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  familiar 
  

   with 
  the 
  work 
  of 
  nest-making 
  (MacGillivray 
  counted 
  over 
  

   two 
  thousand 
  feathers 
  in 
  the 
  nest 
  of 
  the 
  Long-tailed 
  Tit), 
  

   with 
  the 
  patience 
  of 
  brooding 
  (sometimes 
  involving 
  fatal 
  

   exposure), 
  with 
  the 
  prodigious 
  industry 
  exhibited 
  in 
  feeding 
  

  

  