370 THE WORLD OF LIFE CHAP. 



author of the universe who is at once all-wise, all-powerful, 

 and all-good. The consideration of these facts has been a 

 mystery to the religious, and has undoubtedly aided in the 

 production of that widespread pessimism which exists 

 to-day ; while it has confirmed the materialist, and great 

 numbers of students of science, in the rejection of any 

 supreme intelligence as having created or designed a 

 universe which, being founded on cruelty and destruction, 

 they believe to be immoral. 



I am not aware that Darwin dealt with this question at 

 all, except in the concluding words of his Origin of Species, 

 where he says : 



" Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most 

 exalted object we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production 

 of the higher animals, directly follows." 



This admits the facts as generally conceived ; and, 

 without palliating them, sets on the other side the great 

 compensating result. 



Much more to the point is the concluding sentence of 

 his chapter on the Struggle for Existence : 



"When we reflect on this struggle, we may console ourselves 

 with the full belief, that the war of nature is not incessant, that no 

 fear is felt, that death is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, 

 the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply." 



These statements are, I believe, strictly true, but they 

 do not comprise all that can be said on the question. Be- 

 fore dealing with the whole subject from the standpoint of 

 evolution, I will quote the opinions of two eminent biologists, 

 as showing how the matter has impressed even thoughtful 

 and instructed writers. Professor J. Arthur Thomson (of 

 Aberdeen University), when reviewing my Darwinism in The 

 Theological Review, said : 



" Tone it down as you will, the fact remains that Darwinism 

 regards animals as going upstairs, in a struggle for individual ends, 

 often on the corpses of their fellows, often by a blood-and-iron com- 

 petition, often by a strange mixture of blood and cunning, in which 

 each looks out for himself and extinction besets the hindmost. We 

 are not interested in any philosophical justification of this natural 

 or unnatural method until we are sure that it is a fact." 



