524 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
so prevalent in Christian countries, are only so many expres- sions of the universal undercurrent of asceticism.
Moreover, the ethical code of the West is not only tinctured with this same spirit, but is virtually based upon it, as I hope to make clear later, so that, after all, there is not so much difference in the two great philosophies of the world as might be supposed from a superficial view of the question.
Aside, therefore, from pessimism, which declares that matters are the worst possible, and is therefore a sort of licensed hyper- bole, and aside even from pejorism, which assumes to decide the question whether the good or the bad predominates, and declares for the latter, there is throughout the world, and especially among all peoples whose rationality is at all marked, a universal rec- ognition, though largely unconscious, of what may be called malism, which only vaguely declares that things are bad. It is the basis of this feeling that I now propose to examine, in order, if possible, to determine whether it is an objective reality or an illusion.
It is just here that biology lends its aid. What is the condi- tion of the animal ? Darwin has shown that there is a "struggle for existence." I am not disposed to exaggerate the meaning of this phrase. I admit that animals are largely unconscious of any "struggle," and that it may not greatly lessen their enjoyment of life. They do not suffer from imaginary evils, they do not anticipate those of the future, and they may not vividly remember the pains previously experienced. In fact, as is well known, they fear the ones they have never experienced as much as those they have actually suffered. Their mental states are chiefly con- trolled by instincts made up of the inherited experiences of their ancestors. But turn it as you may, the fact remains that in nearly every natural race of creatures, in order to hold their own against the buffets of the world, somewhere from ten to a thou- sand individuals have to be born for every one that lives out its normal period of existence. In every case the great majority succumb, before the age of reproduction, to enemies, to disease, to starvation, or to the elements, and the survivors, throughout
