Not only my happiness and health but my very existence depends on the
good-will and toil of others. Thus from a purely egoistic standpoint, my
first duty to myself is to increase the happiness in others, and,
therefore, my first duty to myself becomes my highest duty to society.

My duty to my child is comprehended in my duty to society, _i.e._, to
others. My duty to others is to increase the sum of the happiness of
others, and bringing healthy children into the world not only creates
beings capable of experiencing and enjoying pleasures, but adds to the
sum of social happiness, by increasing the number of social units
capable of rendering service to others.

The next great law of life is the law of race preservation. This law
comprises the instinct to reproduction and the instinct of parental
love. The first and chief function of these instincts in the animal
economy is the perpetuation of the race. The preservation of self
implies and comprehends the preservation of the race.

My first duty to myself is to preserve myself in health and happiness;
but this is best fulfilled and realized in labouring for the health and
happiness of others. If this be the universal law, I also am the
recipient of others' care, therefore probably better tended and
preserved. I save my life by losing it in others.

My second duty, though nominally to Society, is in reality to myself,
and it is to preserve myself by preserving the race to which I belong.

Self-preservation therefore, is the first law of life, race preservation
the second or subsidiary law.