THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 7 



all its wit and wisdom, is worth absolutely nothing 

 where a purely speculative Nature-creed is con- 

 cerned. 



Between that practical science which since the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century has transformed 

 the earth, and quickened the heart-beat, and raised the 

 hopes of humanity, and the speculative science of the 

 same period, there is a great gulf fixed. Practical 

 science has advanced from point to point, ever taking 

 its start from the knowledge of phenomena already 

 acquired, employing in its progressive stages legitimate 

 inductive and deductive processes : and therefore 

 and thereby, it gives promise of future developments 

 that the imagination of the present day feels its 

 inadequacy to forecast. 



But what of the other ? What of the speculative 

 science of our own times ? What of that boastful 

 excursion into the realms of pure theory which is 

 known as the creed of science, and which is a series 

 of assumptions resting upon no material basis ? 



To deal with its two fundamental principles, which 

 are the struggle for existence and the evolutional value 

 of the individual variation, to prove that the first is 

 not the law of life and that the second is an im- 

 possible dream, is the task which I feel myself 

 competent to discharge in this and the following 

 chapters. 



In the animal kingdom the individuals of each 

 species reproduced in each generation far exceed the 

 number that could, if they all survived, find main- 



