206 Erolution of Socicti/. 



effects of antagonizing forces ; and the order thus produced 

 rises in grade, character, or quality, as these antagonisms 

 increase in complexity and activity. Distinctive societary 

 action, however, first appears in the domain of vegetal life. 

 There we find the united and associated action of individu- 

 als of the same species resulting in the occupation and pos- 

 session by them of large areas of forest and held, to the ex- 

 clusion of other species, accompanied by struggle, conflict, 

 slaughter, victory and defeat ; all of which are continued 

 between individuals of the same species without end. Be- 

 tween individuals and associations of different species even 

 more severe struggles and conflicts universally prevail ; and 

 the tragedies of vegetal life may well be said to be not less 

 than those recorded in the histories of the world, or those 

 prior tragedies of human life unrecorded in any history. 



Although the lily neither toils nor spins, yet when left 

 to itself it is compelled to struggle for existence not only 

 with others of its kind, but with other forms of plant-life 

 having in their mode of action the principles and methods 

 of the thief, the tyrant, and even the murderer. In fact, 

 the remorseless struggle for supremacy among plants left 

 to themselves, is everywhere evident to the most casual ob- 

 server. Note what occurs after a great freshet in the Ohio 

 Kiver, when, as the waters subside, a new island is seen to 

 have been formed by their action. The sun of the succeed- 

 ing summer speedily develops, or aids in developing, num- 

 berless seeds and germs of the sycamore tree, scores of 

 which peep out into the daylight through the drying crust 

 on every square foot of the surface of the new island. Be- 

 fore the summer is over it will be discovered that some in- 

 dividuals, either by reason of superior vigor inherited by 

 the original germ from the parent tree, or of the greater 

 richness of the immediate soil in which their lot may have 

 been cast, have grown taller than others, and have expanded 

 their larger leaves over those of their smaller and weaker 

 brethren, thereby excluding them from the privileges of the 

 life-giving sun, and appropriating those privileges for their 

 own use. Keturn to the island in after years, and you will 

 find that where originally hundreds of thousands of juvenile 

 sycamore trees were to be found, there are now left only 

 scores of giants, in complete possession, the weaker ones 

 having been ruthlessly destroyed in their infancy by the 

 arboreal Herods you see before you. Every laughing 



