THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 213 



to mine the Struggle for Life at its roots. Essen- 

 tially, as we have seen, the Struggle for Life is the 

 attempt to solve the fundamental problem of all life 

 Nutrition. If that could be solved apart from the 

 Struggle for Life, its occupation would be gone. Now, 

 it is more than probable that that problem will be 

 otherwise solved. It will be solved by science. At 

 the present moment Chemistry is devoting itself to 

 the experiment of manufacturing nutrition, and with 

 an enthusiasm which only immediate hope begets. It 

 is not the visionaries who have dared to prophesy 

 here. In a hundred laboratories the problem is being 

 practically worked out, and, as one of the highest 

 authorities assures us, " The time is not far distant 

 when the artificial preparation of articles of food will 

 be accomplished." 1 Already, through the labors of 

 other sciences, the Struggle for Food has been made 

 infinitely easier than it was ; but when the immediate 

 quest succeeds, and the food of Man is made direct 

 from the elements, the Struggle in all its coarser 

 forms will practically be abolished. Civilization can- 

 not ease the whole burden at once; the Struggle for 

 Life will go on, but it will be the Struggle with its 

 fangs drawn. 



But there is a higher hope than Science. Attacked 

 from below by Man's intellect, the final blow will be 

 struck from a deeper source. It is impossible to con- 

 ceive that the Ascent of Man should always depend 

 upon his appetites, that in God's world there should 

 be nothing better to attract him than food and rai- 

 ment, that he should take no single step towards a 

 higher life except when driven to it. As there comes 

 1 Prof. Kemsen, Jf'CZure's Magazine, Jan., 1S&4. 



