i8 9 6. THE ENDEAVOUR AFTER WELL-BEING. 23 



short, it is a function of numerous — partly dependent, partly independent 

 — variables. 



8. This conclusion — a familiar one, of course — that the struggle for 

 existence is a function of numerous variables, leads one to agree very 

 emphatically with Darwin that the phrase, to be true, must be used 

 'in a large and metaphorical sense.' 



9. But just as a reproduction almost inevitably falls short of the 

 original, so many post-Darwinian pictures of the struggle for 

 existence have tended to exaggerate the intensity of the struggle, and 

 to ignore Darwin's saving clauses. Thus, generalising from the 

 rivalry of the brown and black rat, a case for internecine competition 

 by no means so clear as is often supposed, many have presented us 

 — or at least 'the man in the street' — with what may be called 'the 

 rat theory of life.' 1 This may be quite indifferent to the pure biologist, 

 pre-occupied within his preserves, but it is practically important, 

 since the moralists, economists, and theologians, who use or abuse 

 biological conceptions, tend to derive their impressions rather from 

 the epigoni than from the masters. And apart from less expert popu- 

 larisers, who 'put a sword in the hand of a child,' as Bateson com- 

 plains, has not Huxley said, " From the point of view of the moralist, 

 the animal world is on about the same level as a gladiatorial show," 

 and again, "He must shut his eyes if he would not see that more or 

 less enduring suffering is the meed of both vanquished and victor." 

 (See " The Struggle for Existence— A Programme," Nineteenth 

 Century, February, 1888.) 



10. Among the many cautions of which the biologist is or should 

 be aware in appreciating the process of natural selection in the 

 struggle for existence, the following may be noted : — (a.) A secondary 

 factor cannot claim rank as a primary one. As Giard pointed out some 

 years ago, and as we are all well aware, the primary, originative, or 

 productive factors in evolution are the more or less unknown causes 

 of variation ; while the secondary, directive, or determining factors in 

 evolution are the processes of elimination, selection, and isolation, 

 and perhaps others. This is very obvious, yet even expert 

 Darwinians, e.g., Romanes, have described natural selection as 

 ' creating ' (a lapsus pennce, of course), while an independent thinker, 

 such as Hutcheson Stirling, who puts his finger, somewhat irritatingly 

 perhaps, on this weak point and others, has his book described as 

 worthless and contemptible, (b.) A negative factor should not be 

 spoken of as a positive one. See Lloyd Morgan's proposal to 

 substitute the phrase ' natural elimination,' except in those cases 

 where there is really (intelligent) selection (Proc. Bristol Soc. Nat., 

 v., 1887-8). \Yallace also said, " Nature does not so much select 

 special varieties as exterminate the most unfavourable," and Darwin 

 allowed the force of the criticism. (See Darwin's " Life and Letters.") 

 (c.) The need for, and the efficiency of, natural elimination must vary 

 (1) in relation to the number, nature, and amount of the variations 



