162 SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



that the formal object of humanity is constant pro- 

 gress ; that this is only acquired by the best adapta- 

 tion of the intelligence to Nature, in which man 

 has an inextinguishable treasure for the increase of 

 his well-being, and that in this progress will be 

 found true happiness. 



To resume, Darwin's so-called struggle for life is 

 not a law applied to man, for it is not possible that 

 intelligence for its development should make use 

 of an unconscious expedient, and one that man 

 does not use even for his animals. For man by his 

 method of artificial selection commands much more 

 easily the plastic nature of organic matter, giving 

 to animals the fat, the flesh, or the bone that they 

 require, according to the needs of trade ; and he 

 changes or modifies at his whim the primitive form, 

 obtaining types as different as those of the thorough- 

 bred racehorse, with its special anatomy and 

 physiology, and the Suffolk punch, which is quite 

 another type. With dogs he has obtained as 

 much veritable marvels of form and fitness beyond 

 the wildest fancy. It is therefore an absurdity to 

 think that the struggle for life is a principle applic- 

 able to humanity, when man in this case triumphs 

 over Nature. 



In wild animals the struggle for existence is an 

 incentive to favour the survival of the fittest, but 

 this incentive loses much of its importance when 



