ABSTRACT
organs (excepting those which are neither advantageous or disadvantageous to the possessor) of a ll beings have been developed through Natural Selection, or the survival of the fittest, together with use or habit,1O will admit that these organs have been formed so that their possessors may compete successfully with other beings, and thus increase in number. Now an animal may be led to pursue that course of action which is the most beneficial to the species by suffering, such as pain, hunger, thirst, and fear - or by pleasure, as in eating and drinking and in the propagation of the species, etc. or by both means combined, as in the search for food. But pain or suffering of any kind, if long continued, causes depression and lessens the power of action; yet is well adapted to make a creature guard itself against any great or sudden evil. Pleasurable sensations, on the other hand, may be long continued without any depressing effect; on the contrary they stimulate the whole system to increased action . Hence it has come to pass that most or all sentient beings have been developed in such a manner through Natural Selection, that pleasurable sensations serve as their habitual guides. We see this in the pleasure from exertion, even occasionally from great exertion of the body or mind - in the pleasure of our daily meals, and especially in the pleasure derived from sociability and from loving our families. The sum of such pleasures as these, which are habitual or frequently recurrent, give, as I can hardly doubt. to I most sentient beings an excess of happiness over misery, although may occasionally suffer much. Such suffering. is quite compatible with the belief in Natural Selection. which is not perfect in its action, but tends only to render each species as successful as possible in the battle for life with other species, in wonderfully complex and changing circumstances.
