17 
With respect to the struggle for existence, Mr. Wallace 
says :— 
“ There is a continual competition and struggle and war going on 
in nature. . . . The fundamental cause of this struggle . . . 
is ever acting over the whole field of nature, and no single species 
of animal or plant can possibly escape from it. This results from 
the fact of the rapid increase, in a geometrical ratio, of all the species 
of animals and plants.”—(.Darwinism. ft. 2ft.) 
But he also says :— 
“ The struggle for existence, under which all animals and plants 
have been developed, is intermittent and exceedingly irregular in its 
incidence and severity.”—(.Darwinism. ft. iftg, note.) 
Mr. Darwin says :— 
“ In a state of nature, animals and plants have to struggle from the 
hour of their birth to that of their death for existence.”—(The 
Variation, ii., ft. 2ftft, ist ed.) 
But he also says :— 
“When we reflect on this struggle, we may console ourselves with 
the full belief that the war of nature is not incessant.—(Origin of 
Sftecies. ft. 61.) 
Naturally we have the same conflicting statements as to 
the constancy of the action of Natural Selection. Mr. 
Darwin says :— 
“We must suppose that there is a power, represented by Natural 
Selection or the survival of the fittest, always intently watching eacli 
slight alteration .... and carefully preserving each, which, 
under varied circumstances, in any way or in any degree, tends to 
produce a distincter image.”—(Origin of Sftecies. ft. 146.) 
“ It may metaphorically be said that Natural Selection is daily and 
hourly scrutinising throughout the world the slightest variations, 
rejecting those that are bad, preserving and adding up all that are 
good, silently and insensibly working whenever and wherever oppor 
tunity offers at the improvement of each organic being, in relation to 
its organic and inorganic conditions of life.”—(Origin of Sftecies. 
ft. 6ft-6.) 
B