THE ISSUES OF LIFE 293 



In their endeavours to secure self-preservation and race- 

 continuance, organisms exhibit an effectiveness, a persist- 

 ence, a resourcefulness, and a finesse that is worthy of all 

 admiration. But the shadow on the picture is the supposed 

 Ishmaelitish character of the struggle for existence, the 

 shadow of what Huxley called " the huge gladiatorial show ". 

 Sometimes, too, there is an occurrence of what looks like 

 sheer devilry. 



.3. The Struggle for Existence. 



One of the great facts of life, beyond all doubt, is that 

 summed up by Darwin as " the struggle for existence ". 

 Nothing is more familiar, and yet the concept lacks precise 

 definition and is the subject of lamentable misunderstanding. 

 The phrase, as Darwin said, was to be used " in a large 

 and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being 

 on another, and including (which is more important) not 

 only the life of the individual, but success in leaving prog- 

 eny " (Origin of Species, p. 50). This does not coincide 

 with the view of some naturalists that the struggle for ex- 

 istence means nothing more nor less than life-and-death 

 competition between individuals of the same kith and kin. 

 If that had been Darwin's meaning, he would not have spoken 

 of using the term " in a large and metaphorical sense ", nor 

 would he have spoken of the difficulty he felt in constantly 

 bearing the conclusion in mind. We have to be especially 

 careful since the idea of the struggle for existence was 

 confessedly taken over from human life. It was consciously 

 suggested to Darwin by reading Malthus; it was subcon- 

 sciously suggested by the keen industrial competition, more 

 striking, because more novel and less regulated, in Darwin's 

 day than ours. 



