The salmon lays millions of eggs, and
thousands of young trees spring up in every thicket. And these
individuals struggle for a chance to live, and those survive which are
strongest and best fitted to meet the conditions. And precisely the
same thing is true among men--there is no other way by which the race
could be improved, or even kept at its present standard. Those who
perish are sacrificed for the benefit of the race."
Now, strange as it may seem, Samuel had never before heard the phrase,
"the survival of the fittest." And so now he was living over the
experience of the thinking world of fifty or sixty years ago. What a
marvelous generalization it was! What a range of life it covered! And
how obvious it seemed--one could think of a hundred things, perfectly
well known, which fitted into it. And yet he had never thought of it
himself! The struggle for existence! The survival of the fittest!
A few days ago Samuel had discovered music. And now he was discovering
science. What an extraordinary thing was the intellect of man, which
could take all the infinitely varied facts of life and interpret them
in the terms of one vast law.
Samuel was all aglow with excitement at the revelation. "I see," he
said, again and again--"I see!"
"It is the law of life," said the professor. "No one can escape from
it."
"And then," said Samuel, "when we try to change things--when we give
out charity, for instance--we are working against Nature, and we
really make things worse.
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