734 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



compensation the Eohippus gets for bis sorrows in the fact that, some 

 millions of years afterward, one of his descendants wins the Derby. 

 And, again, it is an error to imagine that evolution signifies a constant 

 tendency to increased perfection. That process undoubtedly involves 

 a constant readjustment of the organism in adaptation to new con- 

 ditions ; but it depends on the nature of those conditions whether the 

 direction of the modifications effected shall be upward or downward. 

 Retrogressive is as practicable as progressive metamorphosis. If what 

 the physical philosophers tell us, that our globe has been in a state of 

 fusion, and, like the sun, is gradually cooling down, is true, then the 

 time must come when evolution will mean adaptation to a universal 

 winter, and all forms of life will die out, except such low and simple 

 organisms as the diatom of the arctic and antarctic ice and the proto- 

 coccus of the red snow. If our globe is proceeding from a condition 

 in which it was too hot to support any but the lowest living thing to 

 a condition in which it will be too cold to permit of the existence of 

 any others, the course of life upon its surface must describe a trajec- 

 tory like that of a ball fired from a mortar ; and the sinking half of 

 that course is as much a part of the general process of evolution as the 

 rising. 



From the point of view of the moralist the animal world is on about 

 the same level as a gladiator's show. The creatures are fairly well 

 treated, and set to fight — whereby the strongest, the swiftest, and the 

 cunningest live to fight another day. The spectator has no need to 

 turn his thumbs down, as no quarter is given. He must admit that 

 the skill and training displayed are wonderful ; but he must shut his 

 eyes if he would not see that more or less enduring suffering is the 

 meed of both vanquished and victor. And since the great game is 

 going on in every corner of the world, thousands of times a minute ; 

 since, were our ears sharp enough, we need not descend to the gates of 



hell to hear — 



" sospiri, pianti, ed alti guai,* 



Voci alte e fioche, e suon di man con elle " — t 



it seems to follow that, if this world is governed by benevolence, it 

 must be a different sort of benevolence from that of John Howard. 



But the old Babylonians wisely symbolized Nature by their great 

 goddess Istar, who combined the attributes of Aphrodite with those of 

 Ares. Her terrible aspect is not to be ignored or covered up with 

 shams ; but it is not the only one. If the optimism of Leibnitz is a 

 foolish though pleasant dream, the pessimism of Schopenhauer is a 

 nightmare, the more foolish because of its hideousness. Error which 

 is not pleasant is surely the worst form of wrong. 



This may not be the best of all possible worlds, but to say that it 



* Sighs, plaints, and loud cries. 



f Voices loud and weak, and with thom sounds of blows. 



