ACTS OF SEEMING REASON. 34? 1 



clock, of which the clumsy machinery is worked alone by in- 

 stinct, what other can they do than regard as a tiny watch 

 that insect miracle yclept an ant ? None acquainted at all 

 with the chronicles of elephantine performance, can be at a 

 loss for facts, not isolated, entirely at variance with the idea of 

 making of the elephant a mere monster machine ; and as for 

 the ant, the following relation,"* with a thousand more, would 

 read strangely of a mechanic agent :- 



" I saw an ant pulling with his month a piece of wood. 

 The rest were busy in their own way ; but when he came to 

 an ascent, and the load became too much for him, three others 

 came immediately behind, pushed it up to level ground, and 

 then left him. The end he pulled was the smallest, and, as he 

 drew it between two things, it stuck there. After several 

 fruitless efforts, he went behind, pulled it back, and turned it 

 round." 



Proceedings such as these accord certainly much more 

 closely with the opinion of the enlightened and pious Sharon 

 Turner (by whom the fact is quoted), that " the actions and 

 habits of the insect world display the same kind of animal 

 mind [allowed by the same writer to be judging mind] and 

 feeling wliicn birds and quadrupeds exhibit. If there be a 

 difference, it is not to the disadvantage of insects, for ants, 

 bees, and wasps, and especially the smallest of these, ants, do 

 things, and exercise sensibilities, and combine for purposes, and 



* From the ' imperial Magaziue.' 



