CHAPTER VIII 



NATURAL SELECTION ARTIFICIAL SELECTION 

 PSYCHIC SELECTION 



/. Natural Selection and the Struggle for Life 



WHEN we reflect upon the great effort represented 

 by an organism in its constant improvement, due 

 to the general laws of matter ; when we consider 

 that this organism extends to form one whole with 

 the organic world, whence all elements are derived ; 

 when we learn from the fruitful teaching of Lyell 

 the periodic evolution of the earth; when we 

 picture to ourselves how the latter spins along its 

 ellipse with bewildering velocity ; when we recall 

 the perfect balance to which our little world is 

 subject, we perceive the enormous amount of 

 energy that impels us, the infinite power that holds 

 us ; and it seems the most natural thing that on 

 this earth, thanks to universal mechanics, there 

 should arise the chemical combination of man a 

 rhythm, in fine, of this indefinite harmony of force, 



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