1 6 National Life 



From the standpoint of science there are 

 two questions we can, or, rather, we must, 

 ask. First : What, from the scientific stand- 

 point, is the function of a nation ? What 

 part from the natural history aspect does the 

 national organization play in the universal 

 struggle for existence ? And, secondly, What 

 has science to tell us of the best methods of 

 fitting the nation for its task ? 



To answer at all effectually the latter 

 question, we must first consider what is the 

 proper answer to be given to the former. 

 I shall therefore endeavour to lay in broad 

 outlines before you what I hold to be the 

 scientific view of a nation, and of the re- 

 lationship of nations to each other. If at 

 the very offset my statements strike you as 

 harsh, cold, possibly immoral, I would ask 

 you to be patient with me to the end, when 

 some of you may perceive that the public 

 conscience, the moral goodness which you 

 value so highly, is established by science on 

 a firmer and more definite, if a narrower^ 

 foundation than you are wont to suppose. 



I want you to look with me for awhile on 

 mankind as a product of Nature, and sub- 



