THE ISSUES OF LIFE 315 



obstacles, and the inmost secret of life, from first to last, is en- 

 deavour. The perennial problem is to adjust relations between the 

 self-expression of the organism and the indifference, or hostility, 

 or conflicting interests in its environment. 



All the fresh reactions and responses which living creatures make 

 to environing difficulties and limitations are summed up in the 

 Darwinian concept of the Struggle for Existence which has suffered 

 from widespread misunderstanding. As is well known, the three 

 main difficulties are those involved in the tendency to over-popula- 

 tion, in the nutritive dependence of one creature upon another, and 

 in the changefulness of the environment. As is also w^ell knowm, the 

 struggle takes three main forms, — between fellows of the same kith 

 and kin, between foes of entirely different kinds, and between 

 organisms and their inorganic sun'oundings. But what is less 

 clearly recognised is that the struggle need not be directly competi- 

 tive, need not be sanguinary, need not lead to elimination there and 

 then, and that it is often more accurately described as an endeavour 

 after well-being. The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle 

 to the strong, for, as Darwin clearly recognised, survival may be the 

 reward of those who give the best send-off to their offspring, or to 

 those who vary most in the direction of self-subordination. 



Corrections of the idea that the struggle for existence is neces- 

 sarily an internecine competition between kin around the margin of 

 subsistence (of which there are remarkably few good illustrations) 

 have been offered by Spencer, Kessler, Geddes, Dinmmond, Kropot- 

 kin, and others. And Dai'win safeguarded himself carefully. In- 

 stead of opposing " Struggle for Self " and " Struggle for Others ", 

 or " Mutual Struggle " and " Mutual Aid ", it is scientifically 

 clearer to recognise that the concept of Struggle includes all the 

 reactions and responses w^hich individual organisms make in face 

 of difficulties. Intensifying competition is one mode, an elabora- 

 tion of parental care is another, an experiment in parasitism is 

 another, a new departure in sociality another, and there are many 

 more — all of which pay. Thus the nightmare picture of the Strug- 

 gle for Existence as " a dismal cockpit " gives place to a more ac- 

 curate one, which is more conformable with the assumption that 

 Nature is not " all weather " or " a moral multiverse ". 



The competitive form of the struggle for existence is not illus- 

 trated when all the members of a species meet a familiar difficulty 

 with equal effectiveness, the capacity for the response being in- 

 grained in the constitution. But it is interesting to turn to these 



