What it really brings about, is, the maximum of life and of the enjoyment of life with the minimum of suffering and pain.

Given the necessity of death and reproduction--and without these there could have been no progressive development of the organic world,--and it is difficult even to imagine a system by which a greater balance of happiness could have been secured.

And this view was evidently that of Darwin himself, who thus concludes his chapter on the struggle for existence: "When we reflect on this struggle, we may console ourselves with the full belief that the war of nature is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that death is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 4: _Geographic Botanique_, p.

798.] [Footnote 5: _The Origin of Species_, p.

53.] [Footnote 6: _The Earth as Modified by Human Action_, p.