INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE IN HUMAN 

 SOCIETY 



[1888] 



THE vast and varied procession of events, 

 which we call Nature, affords a sublime spectacle 

 and an inexhaustible wealth of attractive pro 

 blems to the speculative observer. If we confine 

 our attention to that aspect which engages the 

 attention of the intellect, nature appears a beau 

 tiful and harmonious whole, the incarnation of a 

 faultless logical process, from certain premisses in 

 the past to an inevitable conclusion in the future. 

 But if it be regarded from a less elevated, though 

 more human, point of view ; if our moral sym 

 pathies are allowed to influence our judgment, 

 and we permit ourselves to criticize our great 

 mother as we criticize one another ; then our 

 verdict, at least so far as sentient nature is 

 concerned, can hardly be so favourable. 



In sober truth, to those who have made a 



