340 THE THEORIES OF EVOLUTION 



theory of natural selection is far from having given 

 results as beneficial. Universally adopted by biolo- 

 gists, the idea of natural selection and of the struggle 

 for life became rapidly popular and was applied in 

 ways which its originator had certainly never dreamt 

 of. 



By struggle for life Darwin meant broadly the 

 struggle which living things have to wage against 

 the conditions surrounding them, climate, soil, indi- 

 viduals of the same and of other species; this con- 

 ception was narrowed until it only meant a struggle 

 between individuals, especially individuals of the same 

 species. Darwin considered this struggle as one of 

 the main factors of evolution ; certain Darwinians and 

 the general public began to regard it as the only 

 factor ; it became a mere matter of individual compe- 

 tition. 



At the same time the original conception lost all 

 but its essential elements and acquired a rather brutal 

 meaning. It was construed in its simplest, most lit- 

 eral sense: a fight to the death, by tooth and nail, in 

 which nothing counted but brute force. One can 

 well imagine what further applications were found 

 for this idea. Under our present social system, in 

 which competition between individuals is a constant 

 occurrence and in which the triumph of those best 

 armed for the fray is the general rule, the theory of 

 natural selection and of the survival of the fittest 



