DARWINISM. II 



still living at the present day? The solution is easy 

 to suggest, that the offspring of very simple forms are 

 sometimes exactly like their parents, and sometimes 

 not exactly like. From what has been said above of 

 Inheritance and Variation, this is in the highest degree 

 probable, and, this being admitted, it will follow that ac- 

 cording to circumstances the progeny that are like their 

 parents, or those that are unlike, will have the best of 

 it. Why this follows will now have to be explained. 



All over the surface of our globe there is a struggle 

 for life going on. The instinct of self-preservation 

 is probably stronger than any other, so that we may 

 rely upon it that the creatures of every race will strive 

 to preserve their own existence, if need be, at the 

 expense of that of others. It may be horrible to 

 the sentimentalist, but it is true; and remember that 

 man as well as the tiger is a carnivorous mammal. 

 There is no beast or bird of prey that can be compared 

 with man for his ravaging, destructive, butchering, re- 

 morseless dissipation of other forms of life, to preserve 

 his own existence and make it comfortable. He secures 

 his gluttony from famine, as far as he can, by being 

 omnivorous. Moss and fungus, grass and herb, leaf 

 and flower and stem and fruit, all alike find a grave in 

 man. The lion and the flea are the victims of his fear ; 

 many a harmless snake and toad of his antipathy ; the 

 otter and the fox die for his sport ; the ostrich and the 

 ermine for his vanity. For his food, like a wolf, he 

 slays the harmless sheep; like a hawk, he pounces 

 on the innocent chicken ; like a wily panther, surprises 



