3IO RELIGION. 



According to myjudgmcnt happiness decidedly prcvails,though 

 this would be very difficult to prove. If the truth of this con- 

 clusion be granted, it harmonizes well with the effects which 

 we might expect from natural selection. If all the individuals 

 of any species were habitually to suffer to an extreme degree, 

 they would neglect to propagate their kind ; but we have no 

 reason to believe that this has ever, or at least often occurred. 

 Some other considerations, moreover, lead to the belief that all 

 sentient beings have been formed so as to enjoy, as a general 

 rule, happiness. 



" Every one who believes, as I do, that all the corporeal and 

 mental organs (excepting those which are neither advantageous 

 nor disadvantageous to the possessor) of all beings have been 

 developed through natural selection, or the survival of the 

 fittest, together with use or habit, will admit that these organs 

 have been formed so that their possessors may compete suc- 

 cessfully with other beings, and thus increase in number. Now 

 an animal may be led to pursue that course of action which is 

 most beneficial to the species by suffering,, such as pain, 

 hunger, thirst, and fear ; or by pleasure, as in eating and 

 drinking, and in the propagation of the species, &c. ; or by 

 both means combined, as in the search for food. But pain or 

 suffering of any kind, if long continued, causes depression and 

 lessens the power of action, yet is well adapted to make a 

 creature guard itself against any great or sudden evil. Plea- 

 surable sensations, on the other hand, may be long continued 

 without any depressing effect ; on the contrary, they stimulate 

 the whole system to increased action. Hence it has come to 

 pass that most or all sentient beings have been developed in 

 such a manner, through natural selection, that pleasurable 

 sensations serve as their habitual guides. We see this in the 

 pleasure from exertion, even occasionally from great exertion 

 of the body or mind, in the pleasure of our daily meals, and 

 especially in the pleasure derived from sociability, and from 

 loving our families. The sum of such pleasures as these, 



