THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIFE OF OTHERS 285 



the one marks the beginning of Egoism, the other 

 of Altruism. Almost the whole self-seeking side of 

 things has come down the line of the individual 

 Struggle for Life ; almost the whole unselfish side 

 of things is rooted in the Struggle to preserve 

 the life of others. 



That an Other-regarding principle should sooner 

 or later appear on the world's stage was a necessity 

 if the world was ever to become a moral world. 

 And as everything in the moral world has what 

 may be called a physical basis to begin with, it is 

 not surprising to find in the mere physiological 

 process of Reproduction a physical forecast of the 

 higher relations, or, more accurately, to find the 

 higher relations manifesting themselves at first 

 through physical relations. The Struggle for the 

 Life of Others formed an indispensable stepping- 

 stone to the development of the Other-regarding 

 virtues. Nature always works with long roots. 

 To conduct Other-ism upward into the higher 

 sphere without miscarriage, and to establish it 

 there for ever. Nature had to embed it in the most 

 ancient past, so organizing and endowing proto- 

 plasm that life could not go on without it, and 

 compelling its continuous activity by the sternest 

 physiological necessity. 



To say that there is a certain protest of the 



