﻿THE 
  ISSUES 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  313 
  

  

  makes 
  for 
  real 
  superiority. 
  If 
  the 
  energy 
  misdirected 
  by 
  

   the 
  facile 
  acceptance 
  of 
  bad 
  biology 
  were 
  turned 
  to 
  prac- 
  

   ticable 
  eugenics, 
  to 
  hygienic 
  reform, 
  to 
  inter-national 
  ad- 
  

   venture, 
  if 
  men 
  looked 
  out 
  for 
  the 
  " 
  moral 
  equivalents 
  of 
  

   war 
  ", 
  there 
  might 
  be 
  a 
  way 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  impasse 
  which 
  Prof. 
  

   Karl 
  Pearson 
  pictures 
  as 
  inevitable 
  if 
  there 
  is 
  cessation 
  in 
  

   the 
  struggle 
  of 
  race 
  against 
  race. 
  Are 
  we 
  not 
  beginning 
  

   (to 
  use 
  Prof. 
  Lovejoy's 
  words) 
  " 
  to 
  recognise 
  that 
  the 
  effort 
  

   to 
  cram 
  the 
  moral 
  ideas 
  of 
  civilised 
  man 
  into 
  the 
  rigid 
  mould 
  

   of 
  the 
  natural 
  selection 
  hypothesis 
  is 
  an 
  artificial 
  and 
  not 
  

   very 
  promising 
  enterprise 
  ' 
  (1909, 
  p. 
  99) 
  ? 
  

  

  Furthermore, 
  when 
  Man 
  has 
  recourse 
  to 
  internecine 
  com- 
  

   petition 
  among 
  fellows, 
  to 
  what 
  is, 
  let 
  us 
  say, 
  remotely 
  anal- 
  

   ogous 
  to 
  a 
  primitive 
  and 
  crude 
  form 
  of 
  the 
  struggle 
  for 
  

   existence 
  exhibited 
  by 
  amoebae, 
  if 
  not 
  by 
  rats 
  he 
  cannot 
  

   console 
  himself 
  with 
  the 
  belief 
  that 
  this 
  must 
  result 
  in 
  the 
  

   survival 
  of 
  the 
  fittest 
  in 
  any 
  desirable 
  human 
  sense. 
  For 
  

   the 
  struggle 
  for 
  existence 
  need 
  not 
  result 
  in 
  the 
  survival 
  of 
  

   the 
  strongest, 
  cleverest, 
  or 
  best. 
  It 
  never 
  results 
  in 
  more 
  

   than 
  the 
  survival 
  of 
  those 
  relatively 
  more 
  fit 
  to 
  the 
  given 
  

   conditions, 
  and 
  these 
  may 
  be 
  on 
  the 
  downgrade, 
  not 
  on 
  

   the 
  upgrade. 
  As 
  a 
  matter 
  of 
  fact, 
  there 
  is 
  considerable 
  reason 
  

   to 
  believe 
  that, 
  as 
  regards 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  either 
  side, 
  war 
  

   acts 
  on 
  the 
  whole 
  dysgenically, 
  by 
  sifting 
  out 
  those 
  whom 
  

   the 
  race 
  can 
  least 
  afford 
  to 
  lose. 
  

  

  IN 
  CONCLUSION. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  not 
  maintained 
  that 
  there 
  are 
  no 
  shadows 
  in 
  Nature 
  

   < 
  wildness 
  ? 
  , 
  wastefulness, 
  parasitism, 
  and 
  even, 
  at 
  times, 
  

   positive 
  disharmony 
  but, 
  postponing 
  a 
  discussion 
  of 
  some 
  

   of 
  these 
  difficulties, 
  we 
  are 
  concerned 
  here 
  to 
  point 
  out 
  that 
  

   although 
  there 
  is 
  in 
  the 
  routine 
  of 
  Animate 
  Nature 
  much 
  

  

  