

THE ELEMENTS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. gi 



in the narrow sense in which that phase is commonly 

 used ; but it is true that what is right will justify itself 

 sooner or later by becoming might. Cruelty, vice, and 

 selfishness are wrong as the expression of weakness, of 

 low vitality, of conditions which make abundance of 

 life impossible. 



Altruism is in no sense confined to man. There is 

 no part of the animal kingdom in which it is unknown, 

 no part of the vegetable kingdom without its traces. 

 Favourable interrelations are possible wherever life is. 

 The expression of such relations is altruism. 



It can be shown that social virtues are powerful aids 

 to survival in the struggle for existence. The race is 

 not " to the swift " nor " the battle to the strong," but 

 " to them who can keep together." The care of the 

 young is a far more effective agency in the survival of 

 the species than iron muscles or huge jaws. The will- 

 ingness to die for the young is a guarantee that the 

 young may live. 



" More ancient than competition," says Oscar Mc- 

 Culloch, " is combination. The little, feeble, fluttering 

 folk of God, like the spinning insects, the little mice in 

 the meadow, the rat in the cellar, the crane on the 

 marshes, or the booming bittern all these have learned 

 that God's greatest word is together and not alone. 

 He who is striving to make God's blessing and bounty 

 possible to most is stepping into line with Nature. The 

 selfish man is the isolated man." 



Altruism is a robust sentiment set deep in the breast 

 of organic life, and not in danger of extinction. It is 

 as old as selfishness and as hard to eradicate. It no 

 more needs coddling than hunger does. It depends on 

 no external sanction, for the creatures without altruism 

 pass away, leaving no descendants. There is a bounty 

 on their heads, whether they be wolves or hawks or men. 



