94 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



Nationalism, in which his ' Country ' (really Nation) 

 has become for the average man his most real God. 

 In the last hundred years, Nationalism has usurped 

 the place of Religion as the most important super- 

 individual interest of individuals — has indeed in some 

 sense become a religion. It is leading the w^orld 

 into an impasse, as do all incomplete and partial con- 

 ceptions ; but, in the Hague Court and the League 

 of Nations, has already generated the seeds of w^hat 

 W\\\ in time devour it.^ 



To sum up, w^e may say that the crude application 

 to human affairs of the doctrine of the struggle for 

 existence, torn from its biological context, isolated 

 and over-emphasized, is wholly unwarranted. On 

 the other hand, a struggle does continue, both of the 

 direct and indirect type defined by Darwin : and 

 there is no prospect of it ceasing to play an important 

 part in human biology. Co-operation is not, any 

 more than competition, to be taken as the sole desirable 

 principle. Panaceas of this sort do not exist, except 

 to make bubble reputations and quack fortunes. 

 Even within such a highly organized co-operative 

 unit as the mammalian body a struggle continues — 

 the different tissues are in competition with each 

 other for food, and if the available supply diminishes 

 below the necessary level, some tissues will be drawn 

 upon by other more successful competitors, and the 

 struggle will lead to an end-result in which the pro- 

 ^ See, e.g.y Wells, '21, pp. 558, 666. 



