THE RIGHT TO LIVE 203 



lutionists and the creationists are essentially 

 united in opinion. The chief end of existence Object 

 is to bear offspring that the race may be per- of living 

 petuated, they all say directly or indirectU'. 

 From the highest forms to the lowest, through 

 both the plant and animal series, this is held 

 to be sufficiently patent. Again the individual 

 is sacrificed to the good of the race. In regard 

 to plants this seems to have always been 

 accepted as a matter of course. I might 

 quote confirmatory statements without end, 

 but will only give two. Cesalpino, one of the 

 w^isest of early botanists, said that "the 

 final purpose of plants consists in that pro- 

 pagation which is effected by the seed," and 

 it would be difficult to find any author who 

 disagreed with him from that time to the. 

 present. It is so generally accepted that one 

 should not be surprised that it is taught to 

 children as an unquestioned fact. In one of 

 Mrs. William Starr Dana's recent nature 

 books for young readers, a whole chapter is 

 devoted to the topic, "What a plant fives for," 

 wnth the terse conclusion that "a plant lives 

 to bear seed." 



Here is the philosophy of the ages regarding 

 earthly existence in a nutshell ; but to me it is 

 a very unsatisfactory philosophy. I do not 

 see why one may not argue that it is founded 

 upon an absurdity, for it is equivalent to say- 



