DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 





c onditions . It is felt, rightly enough, that the 

 problems of human society cannot be fairly 

 studied, if we do not make use of all the light 

 to be found in the scientific investigation of 

 nature ; and the conception of the struggle, for 

 existence comes back tnthp__p\pbinatlt>n of 

 huma n society w ith all the added force of its 

 triu mph in the solution of the greatest qu estion 



with which natural SCJen rp Via^ liirhnrtn-^nrress- 



fullv dealt. Our sociologists look back with 

 contempt on older phrases, such as " Social 

 Contract" or " Natural Rights," and think that 

 they have gained, not only a more accurate view 

 of what is, but a rule available in practical ethics 

 and politics. Ev olution has become not merely 

 a th eory but a creed , not m erely a concepti on 

 by which to under -, 1-ind tin univn 1 m l a 

 guid e to direct us how tp nrrler our liv^ 



The phrase "struggle for existence," as it 

 came from the pages of Malthus, had a dreary 

 enough sound ; but, when this struggle for 

 existence is shown to 1ead__t-n th f> "^nrvivnl of 

 thfcjrttest/' and when it is seen to' be the ex- 

 planation of all the marvellous adaptations and 

 of all the beauty of the living things in the 

 world, it seems to gain a force and even a 



