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Show 36 DARWINISM CliAI'. min()'lcd so that in every extensive forest we have a considerable b va;iety, as may be seen in tho fc.w rennmn ts of our primitive woods in some parts of Eppmg Forest and the New Forest. . Among animals the same law prevails, though, o:v11~g i o their constant movements and power of conccalmcn~, 1t 1s not so readily observed. As illustrations we .may :·cfcr t? tl1c wolf, ranging over Europe and N ?rthcrn Asu.1., ~lulc tl 1 1c p .cknl inh:1bits Southern Asia and Northern Afr~ca. ; t 1~ treeporcupines, of which there arc two closely alhcd spcc10s, one inhabiting the eastern, the other the .w~stcrn. half of North America· the common hare (Lepus t1m1dus) 1ll Central n.n<l Souther~ Europe, while all N orthcrn Europe is ~n habitccl hy the variable hare (Lepus variabilis); the co.mmon ]<LY (Garrn~us glandarius) inhabiting all Europe, wh:le another spcc10s (Gn.rrulus Brandti) is found all a.cross .Asm from the Ur~1.l .. to Japan · and many species of b1rds m the Eastern U m ted States 'arc replaced by closely allied species in the v;cst: Of course there arc also numbers of closely related spcc10s m t he same country, but it will almost always be found thn.t they frequent difi'erent stations and have somewhat difl'crcnt hahi tR, and so do not come into direct competition with each other ; just as closely allied plants may inhabit the same di trid s, when one prefers meadows the other woods, one :1. chalky soil the other sand, one a damp situation the other a dry one. \Vith plants, fixed as they arc to the earth, we easily note these peculiarities of station ; but with wild animals, which we sec only on rare occasions, it requires close and long-contim tetl observation to detect the peculiarities in their mode of ]ifc which may prevent all direct competition between closely allied species dwelling in the same area. The Ethical Aspect of the Struggle fm· Existence. Our exposition of the phenomena presented hy the strnggll~ for existence may be fitly concluded by a few remarks on its ethical aspect. Now that the war of nature is better kn own, it has been dwelt upon by many writers as presenting so vafit an <l.mount of cruelty and pain as to be revolting to onr instincts of humanity, while it has proved a stumbhng-hlo('k in the way of those who would fain believe in an a.ll-wisc ~mu II TllE 8TRUOULE FOR EXfSTENCE 37 benevolent ruler of the universe. Thu. a hrillin.nt writer says: "~>ain, gri f, discn . .-c, and dca.th, arc the. e the inventions of ~t lovmg God 1 That no animn.l shall rise to excellence except h~ hcillg fatal t? the life of others, is this the Jaw of a kwd Urea tor 1 It 1s u c]css to say that pain ha.s its hene_volcncc, tha.t mas. acre has its mercy. Why is it so o· rcbmcd1 th1a t lm<l · should be the raw material of o·oo'l ~ p · b '- . am 1s not t 10 ess pam hccn.use it i. useful; murder is not. Jess munler hecn.use it is .conducive to development.. Here is blood upon the hand st1ll, and all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten it." J . ~von ~o thoughtful a writer as Profcs. or Huxley adopts s1m1lar vww. . In a recent article on "The Strt1o·O']c fo. E . "}· . ' bb l x1stcnc~ 1e .-pc.ak of the myrmds of genenttions of herbiv-orous ammals winch "have hccn tormented am1 devoured h carnivore?";. of ~h~ camivores and herbivore. alike "subject t~ al~ th~ m,l,scncs 1 mcidcntal to old ngc, disease, and ovcr-mnltip I~atw~ ; anc of the "more or less enduring sufl'crincr," wh1ch IS the meed of both vanquished and victor. And he concludes that, since thousand · of times a minute, were our e.ars sharp enough, we should hear sighs and groan of pain hkc those heard by Dante at the gate of hell, tho world cannot be governed by what we call benevolence. 2 . Now there is, I think, good reason to believe that all this ~~ ~re~~ly, oxn.ggo.ratcd ; that. the snppos?d "torments" <Ul<l m1seiies of ammal have bttlc real existence but arc the reftcctio.n ~f ~he i.magined sensations of cultiva'tod men and wor_ne.n m s1m1lar c1rcumsta.nces ; and that the amount of actual ?nffcrmg causc~l ?Y ~he struggle for existence among animal 1s alto?ether 111s1gmficant. Let us, therefore, endeavour to asccrtm.n what are the real facts on which these tremendous accusatiOns arc founded. !n the first place, we must remember that animn.ls arc entn:ely spared the. pain we suffer in the anticipation of deatha p<.nn far greater, m most cases, than the reality. This lead s, P.robably,, to an almost perpetual enjoyment of their lives ; sm~e thmr co~stant watchfulness against danger, and even thmr actual fhght from an enemy, will be the enjoyable ~ W!nwood Reacle'. flfa?·ty1·dom of Mrm, p. 520. Nmeteenth Uent1t1·y, February 1888, pp. 162, 163, |
