No Progress by War within Species TJ 



mitigate the harshness of the struggle for life between 

 men; but they all recognize at the same time that the 

 struggle for the means of existence, of every animal 

 against all its congeners, and every man against all 

 other men, was "a law of Nature." This view, how- 

 ever, I could not accept, because I was persuaded that 

 to admit a pitiless inner war for life within each 

 species, and to see in that war a condition of progress, 

 was to admit something which not only had not yet 

 been proved, but also lacked confirmation from direct 

 observation. 



It is easy to see that when terrible snow-storms 

 take place those individuals would survive which 

 are most capable of withstanding the cold {i. e., 

 those which are best adapted to the physical 

 environment); that those least able to withstand 

 cold would perish; and that thus a selection 

 favourable to the species would take place. The 

 number of individuals perishing as a consequence 

 of the severe climate is much greater than the 

 number perishing as the result of attacks not only 

 by individuals of the same species, but even by 

 individuals of different species. In the first place 

 the herbivorous and the frugivorous animals can- 

 not perish on account of attacks by individuals of 

 their own species and the carnivorous animals do 

 not eat each other, because of the law of universal 

 application, that force follows the line of least 

 resistance. The carnivorous animals prey upon 

 animals more feeble than themselves, — cats upon 

 mice, tigers upon sheep and cattle, etc. It is 



