THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 



benevolent niler of the universe. Thus, a brilliant writer 

 says : " Pain, grief, disease, and death, are these the inventions 

 of a loving God ? That no animal shall rise to excellence 

 except by being fatal to the life of others, is this the law of 

 a kind Creator ? It is useless to say that pain has its 

 benevolence, that massacre has its mercy. Why is it so 

 ordained that bad should be the raw material of good ? Pain 

 is not the less pain because it is useful : murder is not less 

 murder because it is conducive to development. Here is 

 blood upon the hand still, and all the perfumes of Arabia will 

 not sweeten it." 1 



Even so thoughtful a writer as Professor Huxley adopts 

 similar views. In a recent article on " The Struggle for 

 Existence " he speaks of the myriads of generations of herbiv- 

 orous animals which " have been tormented and devoured by 

 carnivores " ; of the carnivores and herbivores alike " subject to 

 all the miseries incidental to old age, disease, and over-multi- 

 plication"; and of the "more or less enduring suffering," 

 which is the meed of both vanquished and victor. And he 

 concludes that, since thousands of times a minute, were our 

 ears sharp enough, we should hear sighs and groans of pain 

 like those heard by Dante at the gate of hell, the world 

 cannot be governed by what we call benevolence. 2 



Xow there is, I think, good reason to believe that all this 

 is greatly exaggerated ; that the supposed " torments " and 

 11 miseries " of animals have little real existence, but are the 

 reflection of the imagined sensations of cultivated men and 

 women in similar circumstances : and that the amount of actual 



suffering caused by the struggle for existence among animals 

 is altogether insignificant. Let us, therefore, endeavour to 

 ascertain what are the real facts on which these tremendous 

 accusations are founded. 



In the first place, we must remember that animals are 

 entirely spared the pain we suffer in the anticipation of death — 

 a pain far greater, in most cases, than the reality. This leads, 

 probably, to an almost perpetual enjoyment of their lives ; 

 since their constant watchfulness against danger, and even 

 their actual flight from an enemy, will be the enjoyable 



1 Winwood Reade's Martyrdom of Man, p. 520. 



2 Xineteenth Century, February 1888, pp. 162, 163. 



