II EVOLUTION AND ETHICS. 83 



their combined strength to constrain one of their 

 number to contribute his share to the maintenance 

 of it; or even to prevent him from doing his best 

 to destroy it. The struggle for existence which 

 has done such admirable work in cosmic nature, 

 must, it appears, be equally beneficent in the eth- 

 ical sphere. Yet if that which I have insisted 

 upon is true; if the cosmic process has no sort of 

 relation to moral ends; if the imitation of it by 

 man is inconsistent with the first principles of eth- 

 ics; what becomes of this surprising theory? 



Let us understand, once for all, that the eth- 

 ical progress of society depends, not on imitating 

 the cosmic process, still less in running away from 

 it, but in combating it. It may seem an audacious 

 proposal thus to pit the microcosm against the 

 macrocosm and to set man to subdue nature to his 

 higher ends; but I venture to think that the great 

 intellectual difference between the ancient times 

 with which we have been occupied and our day, 

 lies in the solid foundation we have acquired for 

 the hope that such an enterprise may meet with 

 a certain measure of success. 



The history of civilization details the steps by 

 which men have succeeded in building up an ar- 

 tificial world within the cosmos. Fragile reed as 

 he may be, man, as Pascal says, is a thinking 

 reed: ^^ there lies within him a fund of energy 

 operating intelligently and so far akin to that 

 which pervades the universe, that it is competent 



