process, and "survival of the fittest" describes the result of 

 that process. Nor shall we find the moving principle of 

 evolution in individual variability unless we choose to re- 

 gard chance as an efficient agency. Consequently, the only 

 efficient principle conceivably connected with the pro- 

 cess is the "struggle for existence;" and even this has only 

 a purely negative function in the origination of species or of 

 adaptations. For, the "surviving fittest" owe nothing more 

 to the struggle for existence than our pensioned veterans 

 owe to the death-dealing bullets which did not hit them. 

 Mr. Darwin has, however, obviated all difficulty regarding 

 precision of terms by the remark that he intended to use 

 his most important term, "struggle for existence" in "a 

 large and metaphorical sense." 



We have now seen the second element of Darwinism, 

 namely, the "struggle for life." The theory of natural se- 

 lection, then, postulates the accumulation of minute "for- 

 tuitions" individual modifications, which are useful to the 

 possessor of them, by means of a struggle for life 

 of such a sanguinary nature and of such enor- 

 mous proportions as to result in the destruction of 

 the overwhelming majority of adult individuals. These are 

 the correlative factors in the process of natural selection. 



In view of the popular identification of Darwinism 

 with the doctrine of evolution, on the one hand, and with 

 the theory of struggle for life, on the other hand, it is 

 necessary to insist on the Darwinian conception of small, 

 fluctuating, useful variations as the "first-steps" in the 

 evolutionary process. For, this conception distinguishes 



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