6i4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of tlie blood are permanent enemies of bacteria, and by inoculation 

 will absorb poisonous germs ; a recurrent war, as it appears, going 

 on between them. If the corpuscle is the conqueror, the bacteria 

 are swallowed up and the patient lives. If the corpuscles are 

 vanquished, the patient dies and the bacteria live, at all events for 

 a time. If the theory is founded, it affords a strong additional 

 argument to the doctrine of internal antagonism. Possibly, if 

 there were no bacteria, and the corpuscles had nothing to do, it 

 would be worse for them and the animal whom they serve. 



Let us now consider the external life of animals. I will take as 

 an instance, for a reason which you will soon see, the life of a wild 

 rabbit. It is throughout its life, except when asleep (of which 

 m.ore presently), using exertion, cropping grass, at war with vege- 

 tables, etc. If it gets a luxurious pasture, it dies of repletion. If 

 it gets too little, it dies of inanition. To keep itself healthy it 

 must exert itself for its food ; this, and perhaps the avoiding its 

 enemies, gives it exercise and care, brings all its organs into use, 

 and thus it acquires its most perfect form of life. I have wit- 

 nessed this effect myself, and that is the reason why I choose the 

 rabbit as an example. An estate in Somersetshire, which I once 

 took temporarily, was on the slope of the Mendip Hills. The rab- 

 bits on one part of it, viz., that on the hill-side, were in perfect 

 condition, not too fat nor too thin, sleek, active, and vigorous, 

 and yielding to their antagonists, myself and family, excellent 

 food. Those in the valley, where the pasturage was rich and luxu- 

 riant, were all diseased, most of them unfit for human food, and 

 many lying dead on the fields. They had not to struggle for life, 

 their short life was miserable, and their death early ; they wanted 

 the sweet uses of adversity — that is, of antagonism. The same 

 story may be told of other animals. Carnivora, beasts or birds of 

 prey, live on weaker animals ; weaker animals herd together to 

 resist, or, by better chance of warning, to escajje, beasts of prey ; 

 while they, the herbivora, in their turn are destroying vegetable 

 organisms. 



I now come to the most delicate part of my subject, viz., man 

 (I include women, of course !). Is man exempt from this continual 

 struggle ? It is needless to say that war is antagonism. Is not 

 peace so also, though in a different form ? It is a commonplace 

 remark to say that the idle man is worn out by ennui, i. e., by in- 

 ternal antagonism. Kingsley's " Do-as-you-like " race — who were 

 fed by a substance dropping from trees, who did no work, and who 

 gradually degenerated until they became inferior to apes, and ul- 

 timately died out from having nothing to do, nothing to struggle 

 with — is a caricature illustrative of the matter. That the worry 

 of competition is nearly equivalent to the hardships and perils of 

 military life seems proved to me by the readiness with which mill- 



