164 THE HISTOKY OF CPvEATION. 



requires for fixing its root, a competition for sunlight and 

 moisture. And in the same manner we find that, among all 

 animal species, all the individuals of one and the same species 

 compete with one another to obtain these indispensable 

 means of life, or the conditions of existence in the wide 

 sense of the word. They are equally indispensable to all, 

 but really fall to the lot of only a few — " Many are called, 

 but few are chosen." The fact of the great competition is 

 quite universal. You need only to cast a glance at human 

 society, where this competition exists everywhere, and in 

 all the different branches of human activity. Here, too, 

 a struggle is brought about by the free competition of the 

 different labourers of one and the same class. Here too, 

 as everywhere, this competition benefits the thing, or the 

 work, which is the object of competition. The greater and 

 more general the competition, the more quickly improve- 

 ments and inventions are made in the branch of labour, and 

 the higher is the grade of perfection of the labourers them- 

 selves. 



The position of the different individuals in this struggle 

 for life is evidently very unequal. Starting from the 

 inequality of individuals, which is a recognized fact, we 

 must in all cases necessarily suppose that all the individuals 

 of one and the same species do not have equally favourable 

 prospects. Even at the beginning they are differently placed 

 in this competition by their different strengths and abilities, 

 independently of the fact that the conditions of existence 

 are different, and act differently at every point of the earth's 

 surface. We evidently have an infinite combination of in- 

 fluences, which, together with the original inequality of the 

 individuals during the competition for the conditions of 



