only
an infinitely small proportion of all these creatures can possibly
survive. This, then, is multiplication.

Here comes into play the fourth basal idea in Mr. Darwin's
explanation. This is the part of Selection. When man produces new
varieties of animals he does it by picking out from his flocks or his
herds such as conform most nearly to his idea of what is desirable.
These he mates, and from their progeny he selects the ones that suit
him best. Generation by generation he gets his domesticated animals to
conform more nearly to the standard of his desires. Natural selection
works in exactly similar fashion. Of all the eggs that are produced by
the animals at large in nature an overwhelming proportion never
develop at all. They dry up, are eaten by their enemies, find no
suitable place or time for development and decay, or are overtaken by
some other calamity. Of the animals which emerge from the remainder an
overwhelming majority come to an untimely end within the first few
days of life. Each has countless enemies which prey upon him, and
these have scarcely devoured him before they themselves become the
prey of some stronger creature. Until Mr. Darwin gave us his elemental
idea it was taken for granted that it was a matter of pure accident
which survived and which yielded in the struggle and cares of life. It
was Darwin who showed us that in this tremendous struggle against
those of his own kind in the search for the same food, against the
elements, in securing a mate, any animals possessing a superiority,
however slight, must have some little advantage in the battle.
Certainly, where so many must utterly fail, only those could possibly
succeed who were well fitted to the circumstances in which they must
live. We used to think animals were destroyed by the "accidents" of
life and no one could foretell accidents. Mr. Darwin made clear that
it was not a question of chance. That which might happen to any
individual animal might be what we, not knowing the process, called
accident, and yet there could be no possible doubt that those who
succeeded were better fitted to battle with life than those who
failed, and that their success was due primarily to their being thus
advantaged. Consequently, if generation by generation the so-called
accidents of life are constantly eliminating the unfit in overwhelming
proportions, not only must the positively unfit disappear, but even
the less fit. The more keen the struggle, the f