INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE IN HUMAN 

 SOCIETY 



[1888] 



The vast and varied procession of events, 

 which we call Nature, affords a sublime spectacle 

 and an inexhaustible wealth of attractive pro- 

 blems to the speculative observer. If we confine 

 our attention to that aspect which engages the 

 attention of the intellect, nature appears a beau- 

 tiful and harmonious whole, the incarnation of a 

 faultless logical process, from certain premisses in 

 the past to an inevitable conclusion in the future. 

 But if it be regarded from a less elevated, though 

 more human, point of view ; if our moral sym- 

 pathies are allowed to influence our judgment, 

 and we permit ourselves to criticize our great 

 mother as we criticize one another ; then our 

 verdict, at least so far as sentient nature is 

 concerned, can hardly be so favourable. 



In sober truth, to those who have made a 



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