Spencer's Unscientific Comparisons 67 



species, as in the case of the microbe which preys 

 upon plants and animals, or carnivorous animals 

 which prey upon herbivorous animals, we see that 

 . ithere is an irreducible antagonism and perpetual 

 ^hostility between individuals of such different 

 species. The life of the predatory animals can 

 only be maintained by the death of their prey. 

 But between individuals of the same species, we 

 \ often have relations which are diametrically 

 ' opposite, relations of alliance and association. 

 To proceed from the struggles of microbes and 

 men, of herbs and cattle, of wolves and sheep, 

 to the struggle between man and man, without 

 further justification than the statement "similarly 

 with social organisms" although characteristic of 

 much of the distorted "social Darwinism," is op- a 

 posed to the scientific spirit of Darwin's own work. 

 If Spencer had wished to compare the battles 

 of animals with the battles of human beings, he 

 should have compared the combats of men with 

 the combats between animals of the same species. 

 The combat between a tiger and a bull is not 

 comparable with a duel between two men, because 

 the tiger and the bull are individuals of two species 

 which are not associable and are indeed naturally 

 antagonistic, while the duellists are individuals 

 of the same species. The comparison would have 

 been more exact if Spencer had compared the 

 relations between men with the relations betweeijA 

 tigers. In this case he would have been dealing 

 with animals, not indeed associated in any perma- 



