MISSING FACTOR IN CURRENT THEORIES 43 



the appeal in this connection is obvious, makes 

 a different use of the fact, it has not escaped 

 him. Not only does the Other-regarding function 

 receive recognition, but he allots it a high place 

 in his system. Of its ethical bearings he is equally 

 clear. " What," he asks, " is the ethical aspect of 

 these [altruistic] principles ? In the first place, animal 

 life of all but the lowest kinds has been maintained 

 by virtue of them. Excluding the Protozoa^ among 

 which their operation is scarcely discernible, we see 

 that without gratis benefits to offspring, and earned 

 benefits to adults, life could not have continued. 

 In the second place, by virtue of them life has 

 gradually evolved into higher forms. By care of 

 offspring, which has become greater with advancing 

 organization, and by survival of the fittest in the 

 competition among adults, which has become more 

 habitual with advancing organization, superiority 

 has been perpetually fostered and further advances 

 caused." ^ Fiske, Littr^, Romanes, Le Conte, L. 

 Buchner, Miss Buckley, and Prince Kropotkin have 

 expressed themselves partly in the same direction ; 

 and Geddes and Thomson, in so many words, re- 

 cognize " the co-existence of twin-streams of egoism 

 and altruism, which often merge for a space with- 

 out losing their distinctness, and are traceable to a 

 '^Principles of Ethics^ Vol. il., p. 5. 



