THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE 265 



the perpetuation of a useful variation. Although 

 Natural Selection by no means invariably works in 

 the direction of progress, — in parasites it has con- 

 summated almost utter degeneration, — no progress 

 can take place without it. It is only when one 

 considers the working of the Struggle for Life on 

 the large scale, and realizes its necessity to the 

 Evolution of the world as a whole, that one can 

 even begin to discuss its ethical or teleological 

 meanings. To make a fit world, the unfit at every 

 stage must be made to disappear; and if any self- 

 acting law can bring this about, though its bear- 

 ing upon this or that individual case may seem 

 unjust, its necessity for the world as a whole is 

 vindicated. If more of any given species are born 

 into the world than can possibly find food, and if 

 a given number must die, that number must be 

 singled out upon some principle ; and we can- 

 not quarrel with the principle in Physical Nature 

 which condemns to death the worst. By placing 

 the death-penalty upon the slightest shortcoming, 

 Natural Selection so discourages imperfection as 

 practically to eliminate it from the world. The 

 fact that any given animal is alive at all is 

 almost a token of its perfectness. Nothing living 

 can be wholly a failure. For the moment that 

 it fails, it ceases to live. Something more fit, 



