IV MODERN EVOLUTION 239 



It is with this checking of ' the ape and tiger,' 

 and this fostering of the ' angel ' in man, that Huxley 

 dealt in his Romanes Lecture. There was much 

 unintelligent, and some wilful, misunderstanding of 

 his argument, else a prominent Catholic biologist 

 would hardly have welcomed it as a possible prelude 

 to Huxley's submission to the Church. Yet the 

 reasoning was clear enough, and in nowise contra- 

 vened the application of Evolution to morals. 

 Huxley showed that Evolution is both cosmical and 

 ethical. Cosmic Evolution has resulted in the uni- 

 verse with its non-living and living contents, and 

 since, dealing with the conditions which obtain on 

 our planet, there is not sufficient elbow-room or food 

 for all the offspring of living things, the result is a 

 furious struggle in which the strong win and transmit 

 their advantages to their descendants. Nature is 

 wholly selfish ; the race is to the swift, and the 

 battle to the strong. 



But there are limits set to that struggle by man 

 in the substitution, also within limits, of social pro- 

 gress for cosmic progress. In this Ethical Evolution 

 selfishness is so far checked as to permit groups of 

 human beings to live together in amity, recognis- 

 ing certain common rights, which restrain the self- 

 regarding impulses. For, in the words of Marcus 

 Aurelius, ' that which is not good for the swarm 

 is not good for the bee' (Med. vi. 54). Huxley 

 aptly likens this counter -process to the action of 

 a gardener in dealing with a piece of waste ground. 

 He stamps out the weeds, and plants fragrant flowers 

 and useful fruits. But he must not relax his efforts, 

 otherwise the weeds will return, and the untended 



