76 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



advance. In one view, the development of life 

 appears as an end ; in another, a vast amount of life 

 on the earth appears only as a means to that end ; 

 and not until the responsible rational life is con 

 templated, can we speak of life which is an end in 

 itself, never to be used as a means to an end not 

 even under a law of self-sacrifice. Yet so great is 

 the struggle everywhere apparent, that the life which 

 survives, works out its deliverance by a supreme 

 effort. How large is the reading of this law, we 

 are not yet in a position to make out. Manifestly, 

 however, sacrifice of life is greater, the lower the life 

 is in the scale of being; the higher life advances, 

 the more fully is its preservation secured. In the 

 case of human life, the law of its preservation has as 

 sumed even ethical form. Keeping these differences 

 fully in view, the law of conflict, affecting the his 

 tory of life itself, remains conspicuous. With large 

 advantage for our knowledge of the laws of Nature, 

 has general attention been turned by Darwin on the 

 struggle for existence. A fuller understanding of the 

 exactions of Nature, has given a deeper knowledge of 

 the possibilities of organic development. The harvest 

 of life has become more varied and rich to our view, 

 as the result of a wider range of vision. Struggle 

 for existence was antecedent by long ages to man s 

 cultivation of the field ; and harvest had succeeded 

 harvest in more remote times, as they have in times 

 more recent. Silent ages had been fruitful in ever- 

 increasing measure, before the epoch came when 

 man lifted up his tools on the earth. Ever since 

 that epoch, the noise of his work has waxed louder 

 and louder. While lower life still flourishes in the 



