II 



THE STRUGGLE FOE EXISTENCE 



HAVE you ever strolled across the sunlit meadows and 

 then entered the cool silence of the forest and wondered 

 at the apparent contentment and peace that reigned 

 everywhere? The flowers were all so bright and birds 

 chirping or singing in the trees seemed to lead lives of 

 quiet uneventfulness. But look closer, and back of the 

 silence of the forest is the cringing fear of every living 

 thing. Under the apparent calm of nature there is the 

 constant and bitter struggle for food, air, and space, 

 for life. All the trees and flowers, all the birds and other 

 animals are engaged in a continual struggle for existence. 

 There is struggle between plants and animals of the 

 same species for the same food and space ; the struggle of 

 each and all against unfavorable conditions of climate, 

 heat and cold, flood and drouth ; the rivalry between them 

 for mates; and a continual effort to rear their young in 

 the face of that stern necessity which decrees that in 

 spite of the strenuous efforts put forth, in a great ma- 

 jority of cases there is only failure and death. 



This fearful struggle for existence is the consequence 

 of two facts : first, the amount of food and space upon the 

 earth for plant and animal use are limited ; and, second, 

 the process of reproduction, if unhindered by any ad- 

 verse circumstances, tends to increase the number of in- 

 dividuals in any given species in geometrical ratio. This 

 means that in every generation of every species a great 



20 



