CHAPTER I 



THE DRAMA OF LIFE 

 (VITAL MOTIVES) 



'Sbe performs a plag; we fcnow notwbetber sbe sees it 

 berself, ano yet she acts for us, tbe lookers-on. . . / 



4 1ber mecbanism baa few springs but tbeg never wear 

 out, are always active ano manffolo. . . .' 



'Gbe spectacle of IRature is always new, for sbe is always 

 renewing tbe spectators. 5Life is ber most ejquisite inven* 

 tion ; ano oeatb is ber expert contrivance to get plenty of 

 life/ 



Goethe's Aphorisms, translated by Huxley. 



Succession of Players Progress of the Drama Primal Impulses 

 One Great Problem Abundance of Individuals Number of 

 Species Variety of Form Variety of Bread-Winning The 

 Struggle for Existence Thrust and Parry Many Inventions 

 Intricate Situations In Illustration : Cuckoo Spit The Case 

 of Horned Lizards Love-Scenes Family Life Complications 

 Retrospect. 



? I ^0 many observers of living creatures it has seemed 

 JL as though they were being allowed to see just a little 

 of a complex and long-drawn-out drama. All the world 

 is the stage, on which, without any fall of curtain, scene has 

 succeeded scene since life began. The stage is crowded, 

 in spite of its spaciousness, and everywhere we see repeti- 

 tions of the same episodes and situations on different scales. 

 Here there is a scene among birds, and there the insects 



