PRELIMINARY. 241 



Mark now, however, that while this merciless discipline of 

 Nature, &quot;red in tooth and claw,&quot; has been essential to 

 the progress of sentient life, its persistence through all 

 time with all creatures must not be inferred. The high 

 organization evolved by and for this universal conflict, is not 

 necessarily for ever employed to like ends. The resulting 

 power and intelligence admit of being far otherwise employed. 

 Not for offence and defence only are the inherited structures 

 useful, but for various other purposes; and these various 

 other purposes may finally become the exclusive purposes. 

 The- myriads of years of warfare which have developed the 

 powers of all lower types of creatures, have bequeathed to 

 the highest type of creature the powers now used by him for 

 countless objects besides those of killing arid avoiding being 

 killed. His limbs, teeth and nails are but little employed in 

 fight; and his mind is not ordinarily occupied in devising 

 ways of destroying other creatures, or guarding himself from 

 injury by them. 



Similarly with social organisms. We must recognize the 

 truth that the struggles for existence between societies have 

 been instrumental to their evolution. Neither the consolida 

 tion and re-consolidation of small groups into large ones ; nor 

 the organization of such compound and doubly compound 

 groups ; nor the concomitant developments of those aids to 

 a higher life which civilization has brought; would have 

 been possible without inter-tribal and inter-national con 

 flicts. Social cooperation is initiated by joint defence and 

 offence ; and from the cooperation thus initiated, all kinds of 

 cooperations have arisen. Inconceivable as have been the 

 horrors caused by this universal antagonism which, beginning 

 with the chronic hostilities of small hordes tens of thou 

 sands of years ago, has ended in the occasional vast battles of 

 immense nations, we must nevertheless admit that with 

 out it the world would still have been inhabited only by 

 men of feeble types, sheltering in caves and living on wild 

 food. 



