BIOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY 97 



ever, but the additional fact that man's mental or- 

 ganization reacts strongly to the stimulus of competi- 

 tion make it probable that a "struggle" of some sort 

 will not only be inevitable but up to a point beneficial 

 in any form of society. What is more, once co-opera- 

 tion exists, competition between the co-operative 

 units is necessary to bring out the full efficiency of 

 their combination. 



All that the biologist can do is to point out that 

 neither the one-sided application of the principle of 

 struggle nor of that of co-operation is biologically 

 sound. But, as everywhere else in human conduct, 

 after the broad principles have been grasped, success 

 lies always in a delicate, continuous adjustment of 

 conflicting claims, in what one may call a personal 

 conscious effort. Struggle is universal : but by itself 

 it can only lead to a certain stage of evolutionary 

 progress. 



The half-baked moralist may lay down the law 

 about right and wrong with the most positive assur- 

 ance; but, by not paying attention to the necessity 

 for sweet reasonableness, give-and-take, unselfish- 

 ness, for thought about the thousand and one details 

 of daily conduct, he may be making himself and his 

 wife thoroughly unhappy, ruining his family's 

 chances, and, as a matter of fact, be thoroughly im- 

 moral without once suspecting it. 



It is in a very similar way that the militarist, for 

 instance, fortifying himself in the doctrine of the 

 struggle for existence with what he regards as an 



