We have now seen the second element of Darwinism, namely, the "struggle for life." The theory of natural selection, then, postulates the accumulation of minute "fortuitions" individual modifications, which are useful to the possessor of them, by means of a struggle for life of such a sanguinary nature and of such enormous proportions as to result in the destruction of the overwhelming majority of adult individuals. These are the correlative factors in the process of natural selection. In view of the popular identification of Darwinism with the doctrine of evolution, on the one hand, and with the theory of struggle for life, on the other hand, it is necessary to insist on the Darwinian conception of small, fluctuating, useful variations as the "first-steps" in the evolutionary process. For, this conception distinguishes Darwinism from the more recent evolutionary theory, e.g., of De Vries who rejects the notion that species have originated by the accumulation of fluctuating variations; and it is quite as essential to the Darwinian theory of natural selection as is the "struggle for life." It is, in fact, an integral element in the selection theory. The attitude of science towards Darwinism may, therefore, be conveniently summarized in its answer to the following questions: 1. Is there any evidence that such a struggle for life among mature forms, as Darwin postulates, actually occurs? 2. Can the origin of adaptive structures be explained on the ground of their _utility_ in this struggle, i.e., is it certain or even probable that the organism would have perished, had it lacked the particular adaptation in its present degree of perfection? On the contrary, is there not convincing proof that many, and presumably most, adaptations cannot be thus accounted for? The above questions are concerned with "the struggle for life." Those which follow have to do with the problem of variations. 3. Is there any reason to believe that new species may originate by the accumulation of fluctuating individual variations? 4. Does the evidence of the geological record--which, as Huxley observed, is the only direct evidence that can be had in the question of evolution--does this evidence tell for or against the origin of existing species from earlier ones by means of minute gradual modifications? We must be content here with the briefest outline of the reply of science to these inquiries.