174 The Bible of Nature 



of the original, and the reproductions of the Dar- 

 winian picture are often rather hard and ugly 

 prints. Nature is represented as a continuous 

 Waterloo, as an endless gladiatorial show, as a 

 dismal cockpit. And popularizers apart, leaders 

 of thought like Huxley, have strengthened this 

 impression, which is, to say the least, one-sided. 



Attempt at a Correction of the Ultra-Darwinian 

 Picture. — Let us make a curve of the ascent of 

 Vertebrates from water to dry land, and mark the 

 position of the leading types according to the de- 

 gree of their brain-development (which is gener- 

 ally a reliable index of structural progress). As 

 the curve ascends, we find that the plummet of 

 marital affection, the intensity of parental care, 

 the expression of the gentler emotions, are all on the 

 increase. The natural conditions in which each 

 is said to be for himself, are evidently not antago- 

 nistic to the evolution of other-regarding behaviour. 



The non-gregarious mammals are outnumbered 

 by those that are social; the most secure, successful, 

 and highly gifted birds are probably the rooks, the 

 cranes, and the parrots — also among the most gre- 

 garious; the monkeys — most of which are a feeble 

 folk — are strong in their sociality. It is not then 

 to self-assertiveness alone that Nature gives her 

 sanction of survival. 



When we take a survey of the course of organic 

 nature we see hunger — self-assertion — competi- 



