12 PEINCE KEOPOTKIN AlifNIVEBSAKY ADDEESS : 



to return to the views which. Darwin emphasized in his second 

 great work, ' The Descent of Man.' We must bear in view 

 that there are two different aspects of animal life — the aspect 

 of the struggle for the sheer means of existence, and that of mutual 

 sixpport — and recognize that this last is the more important of the 

 two for the progressive development of the species ; the more 

 so, as most animals know better means to resort to in case of 

 scarcity than to fight for the few means of existence at hand. 

 Take, for instance, the beavers. "When they become too numerous 

 to live in any one particular spot, they do not fight for the 

 few means of subsistence, but they divide into parties and migrate, 

 one party going up the river and the other down the river. When 

 there is a great demand for a particular kind of food, the birds do 

 not fight to the bitter end for that food, but they widen their 

 feeding-areas, or they migrate, while some of them take to other 

 kinds of food. 



Certain species — the most sociable and consequently the most 

 intelligent — do even more than that. Thus, through the researches 

 of Moggeridge, who died some years ago on the shores of Prance, 

 and devoted the last years of his life to the observation of agri- 

 culture among ants, it is well known that the ants prepare the 

 soil and plant the seeds of certain grass which they like ; that they 

 weed out all other gi'asses which are not good for their food; 

 and that when the seeds of this grass are ready, they collect them 

 and prevent them from fully germinating by treating them, it is 

 supposed, with some acid which only allows of their germination 

 to the extent which renders them best suited for their food. The 

 ants of the Tropics — the so-called parasol-ants — have even been 

 found to carry on horticulture, making beds for their plantations 

 out of chewed pellets of the leaves they collect. 



All things taken into consideration, the lesson of Nature is not 

 competition, but the avoidance of competition. "When the means 

 of living become scarce, struggle for these means sets in, and 

 when the struggle becomes hard, there is no progress possible. 

 "When drought or late snowstorms deprive the horses of America 

 or Siberia of food, there is a general lowering of vitality in the 

 whole of the herd. There is a general regress of the species, 

 not progress. Suppose that Watford were besieged, and the whole 

 population were reduced to living on half-rations, or even still 

 further pressed, who would be the most likely to survive ? Would 

 it be the most intelligent, the best all round who would survive? 

 Certainly not. The ordeal would lower the vitality of everyone, 



