THE EVOLUTION OF MORAL CODES TT 



dangers that they meet in their journey destroy them 

 by the hundreds of thousands, and few survive the 

 severe battles of the journey. In the ocean they 

 remain for a series of months to gain sufficient vital- 

 ity for their perilous journey when the breeding sea- 

 son comes. From the standpoint of the individual it 

 would certainly be better for the animal to remain 

 in the ocean. But from the standpoint of the per- 

 petuation of the species the river spawning is a 

 necessity, and the individual is ruthlessly sacrificed 

 to the continuation of the race. 



This principle runs through organic nature, al- 

 though it is not uncommonly concealed by certain 

 more obvious facts. It is certain that among animals 

 and plants each individual is engaged in a struggle 

 for his own existence, and this explains the ordinary 

 incidents of life. Moreover, among the higher 

 animals at least, it commonly happens that the ad- 

 vantage of the individual is identical with the advan- 

 tage of the race. When an animal is competing with 

 adverse conditions or with foes for its own life, it is 

 at the same time competing for the opportunity to 

 leave offspring, and the struggle for self and the 

 struggle for the species are identical. This fact has 

 quite generally concealed the deeper one that natural 

 selection is in reality directed toward the race rather 

 than the individual. It is when the two interests 

 come in conflict, as in the case of the salmon and 

 many others that might be cited, that we see how 

 ruthlessly nature sacrifices the individual to the good 

 of the race. The former is merely an incident in the 

 history of the latter. 



This law, that places the race first, frequently 

 leads the individual to sacrifice his interests in a 



