PERPETUATION OF LIVING BEINGS. 123 



opponents ; and that these have other animals preying 

 upon them, — that every plant has its indirect helpers in 

 the birds that scatter abroad its seed, and the animals 

 that manure it with their dung ; — I say, when these 

 things are considered, it seems impossible that any 

 variation which may arise in a species in nature should 

 not tend in some way or other, either to be a little 

 better or worse than the previous stock ; if it is a little 

 better it will have an advantage over and tend to extir- 

 pate the latter in this crush and struggle ; and if it is a 

 little worse it will itself be extirpated. 



I know nothing that more appropriately expresses 

 this, than the phrase, " the struggle for existence ; " be- 

 cause it brings before your minds, in a vivid sort of 

 way, some of the simplest possible circumstances con- 

 nected with it. When a struggle is intense, there must 

 be some who are sure to be trodden down, crushed, and 

 overpowered by others ; and there will be some who 

 just manage to get through only by the help of the 

 slightest accident. I recollect reading an account of the 

 famous retreat of the French troops, under Napoleon, 

 from Moscow. Worn out, tired, and dejected, they at 

 length came to a great river over which there was but 

 one bridge for the passage of the vast army. Disorgan- 

 ized and demoralized as it was, the struggle must cer- 

 tainly have been a terrible one — everyone heeding only 

 himself, and crushing through and treading down his 

 fellows. The writer of the narrative, who was himself 

 one of those who were fortunate enough to succeed in 

 getting over, and not among the thousands who were 

 left behind or forced into the river, ascribed his escape 

 to the fact that he saw striding onward through the 

 mass a great strong fellow, — one of the French Cuiras- 



