OJST JUSTICE. 21 



with, advancing organization, superiority -has been perpetually fos- 

 tered, and further advances caused. 



On the other hand, it is true that to this self-sacrificing care 

 for the young and this struggle for existence among adults, has 

 been due the carnage and the death by starvation which have 

 characterized the evolution of life from the beginning. It is also 

 true that the processes consequent on conformity to these prin- 

 ciples are responsible for the production of torturing parasites, 

 which outnumber in their kinds all other creatures. 



To those who take a pessimist view of animal-life in general, 

 contemplation of these principles can of course yield only dissatis- 

 faction. But to those who take an optimist view, or a meliorist 

 view, of life in general, and who accept the postulate of hedonism, 

 contemplation of these principles must yield greater or less satis- 

 faction, and fulfillment of them must be ethically approved. 



Otherwise considered, these principles are either, according to 

 the current belief, expressions of the Divine will, or, according to 

 the agnostic belief, indicate the mode in which works the Unknow- 

 able Power throughout the Universe ; and in either case they have 

 the warrant hence derived. 



But here, leaving aside the ultimate controversy of pessimism 

 versus optimism, it will suffice for present purposes to set out 

 with a hypothetical postulate, and to limit it to a single species. 

 If the preservation and prosperity of such species are to be de- 

 sired, there inevitably emerge one most general conclusion and 

 from it three less general conclusions. 



The most general conclusion is that, in order of obligation, the 

 preservation of the species takes precedence of the preservation of 

 the individual. It is true that the species has no existence save as 

 an aggregate of individuals ; and it is true that, therefore, the wel- 

 fare of the species is an end to be subserved only as subserving the 

 welfares of individuals. But since disappearance of the species, 

 implying disappearance of all individuals, involves absolute fail- 

 ure in achieving the end, whereas disappearance of individuals, 

 though carried to a great extent, may leave outstanding such 

 number as can, by continuance of the species, make subsequent 

 fulfillment of the end possible ; the preservation of the individual 

 must, in a variable degree according to circumstances, be subordi- 

 nated to the preservation of the species, where the two conflict. 

 The resulting corollaries are these : 



First, that among adults there must be conformity to the law 

 that benefits received shall be directly proportionate to merits pos- 

 sessed : merits being measured by power of self-sustentation. For, 

 otherwise, the species must suffer in two ways. It must suffer 

 immediately by sacrifice of superior to inferior, which entails a 



