198 THE ANATOMY OF SCIENCE 



which was first clearly advanced by Malthus^ in 

 that essay which not only profoundly influ- 

 enced the whole development of political science, 

 but was an acknowledged inspiration of the 

 work of both Dar\\dn and Wallace. Often as I 

 walk over the sand dunes by the Pacific I am 

 amazed by the incessant warfare between the 

 agents of destruction — the tides, the wind, and 

 the drifting sands — and the constructive prin- 

 ciple of vegetable life. Trees, maimed and 

 dwarfed, still wage their battle against the 

 bitter winds; whole gardens spring up only to 

 be washed away by a single wave; yet if only 

 a root or a seed remain, once more the work of 

 construction begins. We never feel sorry for 

 the atoms and the molecules, and it must be 

 some feeling of kinship that makes us see pathos 

 in this apparently purposeless waste. But, 

 tragic or not, the struggle goes on and will go 

 on wherever living creatures exist. By constant 



1 "Plants and animals . . . are all impelled by a power- 

 ful instinct to the increase of their species; and this in- 

 stinct is interrupted by no doubts about providing for the 

 offspring. Whenever, therefore, there is liberty, the power 

 of increase is exerted; and the superabundant effects are 

 repressed afterwards by want of room and nourishment, 

 which is coraiDon to plants and animals; and among ani- 

 mals, by their becoming the prey of each other." Malthus, 

 An Essay on the Principle of Population. 



