4 NO STRUGGLE NO SELECTION 



Fittest." What a picture is here given of life and of 

 the conditions under which all living creatures subsist ! 

 The over-production of living beings, that from their 

 numbers in a congested world cannot possibly survive, 

 are doomed in the terrible struggle for existence, 

 in the fierce competition for food and life, to perish 

 before they can procreate their kind, because they 

 differ slightly from those who are fortunate enough 

 to survive in the matter of their individual differences 

 or variations. 



It becomes understandable how the author of a 

 concept of organic life so pessimistic felt himself con- 

 strained by the exigences of his hypothetical creed to 

 wage unrelenting war against the notion of a bene- 

 volent Creator and of a designing Intelligence, and 

 against any principle of beneficent purpose in any 

 action of Nature, or in any of her developmental 

 results. 



Defining his struggle for existence, Darwin says : 

 "Hence as more individuals are produced than can 

 possibly survive, there must in every case be a struggle 

 for existence, either one individual with another of 

 the same species, or with the individuals of distinct 

 species, or with the physical conditions of life. It is the 

 doctrine of Malthus applied with manifold force to the 

 whole animal and vegetable kingdoms ; for in this case 

 there can be no artificial increase of food, and no pru- 

 dential restraint from Marriage." 



I trust to demonstrate that this appalling picture of 

 the conditions under which all organic life is lived is 



