2/2 ThoiiKis Henry lluxlcy 



destiny, and, \vilh clear and steady eyes, address our- 

 selves to the task of living, that we ami others may 

 live better. 



These gloomy views come from Huxley with such 

 weight and authority that even in a sketch of his life 

 and opinions it may be noticed that they do not seem 

 necessary deductions from the evolutionar}- conception 

 of the world. The first count adduced against the 

 cosmic process is its connection with suffering. It 

 may be doubted, so far as the animal world is con- 

 cerned, if Huxley has not exaggerated the gravity of 

 this. The two greatest contributors to the modern 

 conception of evolution are not in agreement with him. 

 Alfred Russel Wallace wrote : 



" Ou the whole, then, we conclude that the popular idea of 

 the struggle for existence entailing misery and pain on the 

 animal world is the very reverse of the truth. What it really 

 brings about is the maximum of life and of the enjoyment of life 

 with the minimum of suffering and pain. Given the necessity 

 of death and reproduction — and without those there could 

 have been no progressive development of the animal world — 

 and it is difficult even to imagine a system by which a greater 

 balance of happiness could have been secured." 



This view was evidently that also of Darwin himself, who 

 thus concluded his chapter on the struggle for exist- 

 ence : ' ' When we reflect on this struggle, we may 

 console ourselves with the full belief that the war of 

 nature is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that death 

 is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, the health}^ 

 and the happy survive and multiply." As for man 

 himself, though it be true that in him the consum- 

 mation of pain is reached, still this is no isolated 

 fact of far-reaching ethical importance. It is in di- 

 rect dependence on the increa.sed physical and mental 



