02 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



born and reared without proper aid and the control of a 

 physician, they would hardly survive. 



Therefore, mammals cannot multiply more rapidly 

 because the young developing in the womb need plenty 

 of nourishment, and the supply is limited in proportion 

 to the size of the mother. The maintenance of mammal 

 species is secured by the sheltering of the offspring 

 from danger, so that in spite of their small number, they 

 can never be all destroyed ; the fishes or tape-worms are 

 maintained by bringing forth an enormous quantity of 

 eggs, so that, though they are helpless against danger, 

 there is every prospect of enough being preserved out 

 of so many to carry on the species. But why one 

 method is chosen in one species, and the other in 

 another, is a question that we will defer until a later 

 stage. 



Mammals are not only sheltered inside the mother's 

 body to begin with, but even for some time after birth 

 the mother's eye watches over them unceasingly. They 

 do not need to exert their own strength yet in the severe 

 struggle for life. They pass the first weeks of life in 

 lively play. 1 



Play is the activity of the young animal ; it devotes 

 its whole energy and feeling to it. But even after the 

 animal has grown up, and the anxieties of life demand 

 all its faculties, there are times when it remembers its 

 youth, and indulges once more in play. It is the same 

 with human beings. Cricket not only amuses the child, 

 but also provides absorbing interest to adults ; and the 



1 The remarks which follow on the play of animals generally follow 

 the ideas of Professor Groos, who deals thoroughly with the subject in 

 his " Play of Animals." 



