i8 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



teaching but ** Nature, red in tooth and claw/' Terrified 

 clergymen, and old women of both sexes, thought that the 

 Law of the Survival of the Fittest meant a ruthless 

 struggle for existence, in which the weak went to the wall, 

 and brute force reigned supreme* But Darwin never 

 taught this, and it is now known to be far otherwise ♦ 

 If the Law of the Survival of the Fittest had really meant 

 the supremacy of brute force, and the survival of the 

 physically strongest, then would the world have been 

 peopled by the huge monsters whose ugly remains are 

 to be found in our museums — the mammoth, the 

 ichthyosaurus and the like* They, and not ourselves, 

 would have inherited the earth* But brute force was 

 not the last word of Evolution* The higher we ascend 

 the animal scale, the more do intellectual, moral and 

 spiritual qualities enter in as survival factors, and as 

 these assert themselves, the importance of brute force 

 sinks into insignificance* Thus, for example, intelligence 

 must soon have assumed importance as a Survival 

 factor* It is easy to see how every variation in the 

 direction of greater intelligence would enable its possessor 

 better to obtain sustenance ; better to defend itself 

 against its many enemies ; and better to adapt itself to 

 its environment* And thus intelligence soon assumed 

 the important position as a survival factor, which it 

 still holds to-day* But important as intelligence is, 

 and ever must be, its supremacy was soon challenged. 

 Moral and Spiritual qualities came to the fore as 

 survival factors and became even more important than 

 intelligence* Thus, amongst all the higher forms of 

 animal life, one of the most important survival factors 

 is the love of offspring* The survival of the lower forms 

 of animal life is provided for by the enormous number 

 of offspring produced* Worms and fishes, for example, 

 will produce millions of eggs* But the higher we ascend 

 the animal scale, the fewer are the offspring ; and when 



