316 THE ISSUES OF LIFE 



securely established ways, to see how large a proportion of the 

 energy and time at the disposal of living creatures is spent in activi- 

 ties which make not for self -increase, self-stability, or self-preserva- 

 tion, but for the welfare of the family, the kin, and the species. 

 Neither naturalists nor philosophers have adequately realised the 

 extent to which there is throughout Animate Nature a subordination 

 of the individual to the species. Survival is often the reward of the 

 individualistic competitor, but not less frequently of those with a 

 capacity for self-forgetfulness. 



There is little in common between the Darwinian struggle for 

 existence and human warfare. Modern nationalities are not com- 

 parable to individual organisms. Even if the analogy were closer 

 it would afford no biological justification for war, for natural selec- 

 tion in the struggle for existence results only in the survival of the 

 relatively more fit to given conditions. 



