284 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



wires on which, one far-off day, the currents of all 

 higher things might travel. 



In itself, this second Struggle, this effort to main- 

 tain the life of the species, is not less real than the 

 first ; the provisions for effecting it are not less 

 wonderful ; the whole is not less a part of the 

 system of things. And, taken prophetically, the 

 function of Reproduction is as much greater than 

 the function of Nutrition as the Man is greater 

 than the Animal, as the Soul is higher than the 

 Body, as Co-operation is stronger than Competition, 

 as Love is stronger than Hate. If it were ever to 

 be charged against Nature that she was wholly 

 selfish, here is the refutation at the very start. 

 One of the two fundamental activities of all life, 

 whether plant or animal, is Other-regarding. It is 

 not said that the function of Reproduction, say in 

 a fern or in an oak, is an unselfish act, yet in a 

 sense, even though begotten of self, it is an other- 

 regarding act. In the physical world, to speak of 

 the Struggle for Food as selfish, or to call the 

 Struggle for Species unselfish, are alike incongruous. 

 But if the morality of Nature is impugned on the 

 ground of the universal Struggle for Life, it is at 

 least as relevant to refute the charge by putting 

 moral content into the universal Struggle for Species. 

 No true moral content can be put into either, yet 



