Struggle 

 stupidity 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



tion of other species which competed with 

 the original. NEWMAN Bacteria, ch. 1, p. 

 34. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



3262. 



Conflict Most Se- 



vere between Allied Forms. The depend- 

 ency of one organic being on another, as of 

 a parasite on its prey, lies generally between 

 beings remote in the scale of Nature. This 

 is likewise sometimes the case with those 

 which may be strictly said to struggle with 

 each other for existence, as in the case 

 of locusts and grass-feeding quadrupeds. 

 But the struggle [for life] will almost 

 invariably be most severe between the indi- 

 viduals of the same species, for they fre- 

 quent the same districts, require the same 

 food, and are exposed to the same dangers. 

 DARWIN Origin of Species, ch. 3, p. 69. 

 (Burt.) 



3263. Family Relieves 



Duties Distributed Character Developed. 

 Great as are the physical advantages 

 of the family, the ethical uses, even in the 

 early days of its existence, place this insti- 

 tution at the head of all the creations of 

 evolution. For the family is not only its 

 greatest creation, but its greatest instru- 

 ment for further creation. The ethical 

 changes begin almost the moment it is 

 formed. One immediate effect, for instance, 

 of the formation of family groups was to 

 take off from any single individual the per- 

 petual strain of the struggle for life. The 

 family as a whole must sometimes fight, 

 but the responsibility and the duty are now 

 distributed, and those who were once solely 

 preoccupied with the personal struggle will 

 have respites during which other things 

 will occupy their minds. Attention thus 

 called off from environing enemies, the mem- 

 bers of the family will, as it were, discover 

 one another. New relations among them 

 will spring up, new adjustments to one 

 another's presence and to one another's 

 needs, and hitherto unknown elements of 

 character will be gradually called to the 

 surface. DEUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 9, 

 p. 310. (J. P., 1900.) 



3264. 



Its Intensity Tran- 



scends Calculation. Every one has heard 

 that when an American forest is cut down 

 a very different vegetation springs up; but 

 it has been observed that ancient Indian 

 ruins in the southern United States, which 

 must formerly have been cleared of trees, 

 now display the same beautiful diversity 

 and proportion of kinds as in the surround- 

 ing virgin forests. What a struggle must 

 have gone on during long centuries between 

 the several kinds of trees, each annually 

 scattering its seeds by the thousand; what 

 war between insect and insect, between in- 

 sects, snails, and other animals, with birds 

 and beasts of prey, all striving to increase, 

 all feeding on each other, or on the trees, 

 their seeds and seedlings, or on the other 

 plants which first clothed the ground and 



thus checked the growth of the trees ! Throw 

 up a handful of feathers and all fall 

 to the ground according to definite laws; 

 but how simple is the problem where each 

 shall fall compared to that of the action 

 and reaction of the innumerable plants and 

 animals which have determined, in the 

 course of centuries, the proportional num- 

 bers and kinds of trees now growing on the 

 old Indian ruins! DARWIN Origin of Spe- 

 cies, ch. 3, p. 69. (Burt.) 



3265. 



Not the Only 

 Villain" Not 



Element in Evolution The 

 the Only Actor in the Drama. That the 

 struggle for life has been a prominent 

 actor in the drama is certain. Further 

 research has only deepened the impression 

 of the magnitude and universality of this 

 great and far - reaching law. But that 

 it is the sole or even the main agent in the 

 process of evolution must be denied. Cre- 

 ation is a drama, and no drama was ever 

 put upon the stage with only one actor. 

 The struggle for life is the " villain " of the 

 piece, no more ; and, like the " villain " in 

 the play, its chief function is to react upon 

 the other players for higher ends. DRUM- 

 MOND Ascent of Man, int., p. 12. (J. P., 

 1900.) 



3266. Painfulness of, 



among the Lower Animals Less Painful 

 than We Imagine Nature Takes by Force 

 the Sacrifice Not Freely Made. The proba- 

 bilities are that the struggle for life in 

 the lower creation is, to say the least, less 

 painful than it looks. Whether we regard 

 the dulness of the states of consciousness 

 among lower animals, or the fact that the 

 condition of danger must become habitual, 

 or that death when it comes is sudden, and 

 unaccompanied by that anticipation which 

 gives it its chief dread to man, we must 

 assume that whatever the struggle for life 

 subjectively means to the lower animals, it 

 can never approach in terror what it means 

 to us. And as to putting any moral content 

 into it, until a late stage in the world's de- 

 velopment, that is not to be thought of. 

 Judged of even by later standards, there is 

 much to relieve one's first unfavorable im- 

 pression. With exceptions, the fight is a 

 fair fight. As a rule, there is no hate in 

 it, but only hunger. It is seldom prolonged 

 and seldom wanton. As to the manner of 

 death, it is generally sudden. As to the fact 

 of death, all animals must die. As to the 

 meaning of an existence prematurely closed, 

 it is better to be to be eaten than not to 

 be at all. And, as to the last result, it is 

 better to be eaten out of the world and, 

 dying, help another to live, than pollute the 

 world by lingering decay. The most, after 

 all, that can be done with life is to give it 

 to others. Till Nature taught her creatures 

 of their own free will to offer the sacrifice, 

 is it strange that she took it by force? 

 DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 6, p. 203. 

 (J. P., 1900.) 



