260 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIFE OF OTHERS. 



the essence of both is self-sacrifice ; the first manifest- 

 ation of the sacrifice is to make provision for Others 

 by helping them to draw the first few breaths of life. 

 But what has Love to do with Species? Can Altru- 

 ism have reference to mere life ? The answer is, that 

 in its first beginnings it has almost nothing to do 

 with anything else. For, consider the situation. Re- 

 production, let us suppose, has done its most perfect 

 work on the physiological plane : the result is that a 

 human child is born into the world. But the work of 

 Reproduction being to Struggle for the Life of the 

 Species, its task is only complete when it secures that 

 the child, representing the Species, shall live. If the 

 child dies, Reproduction has failed; the Species, so 

 far as this effort is concerned, comes to an end. Now, 

 can Reproduction as a merely physiological function 

 complete this process ? It cannot. What can ? 

 Only the Mother's Care and Love. Without these, 

 in a few hours or days, the new life must perish ; the 

 earlier achievement of Reproduction is in vain. 

 Hence there comes a moment when these two func- 

 tions meet, when they act as complements to each 

 other ; Avhen Physiology hands over its unfinished 

 task to Ethics; when Evolution— if for once one may 

 use a false distinction — depends upon the " moral " 

 process to complete the work the " cosmic " process 

 has begun. 



At what precise stage of the Ascent, in association 

 with what class of animals, Other-ism began to shade 

 into Altruism in the ethical sense, is immaterial. 

 Whether the Altruism in the early stages is real or 

 apparent, profound or superficial, voluntary or auto- 

 matic, does not concern us. What concerns us is that 



