A NOTE IN REVIEW 



Where, then, is the headship of the State? Is it vest- 

 ed in the courtiers nearest the queen's person? Are 

 they a sort of cabinet or board of governors, among whom 

 the several functions of governing are distributed? All 

 observations show that their chief office is to secure to 

 the community the eggs upon which its future exist- 

 ence depends. 



Is government lodged with the sentinels, who seem to 

 represent the fighting or defensive elements of society? 

 There is no war-lord. There is no commander-in-chief. 

 There is no standing army and no soldier class in the 

 large majority of species, although in " necessity's sharp 

 pinch'' every citizen becomes a soldier. Certainly our 

 mound-making ants, at least, are not a military govern- 

 ment, though every guardian of the gates is at once 

 and equally the embodiment of military authority, and 

 bears in its own person every grade from general to 

 private. 



Perhaps the nurses, who include in their nursery ser- 

 vice the duties of hospital corps and medical staff, are 

 the fountains of governing power? No! Among men 

 it may be true that "the hand that rocks the cradle 

 rules the world"; but nursing ants in their offices 

 keep themselves to their own sphere, and cannot be 

 said even figuratively to sway the policies of the ant- 

 hill. 



Shall we, then, fall back upon the great body of build- 

 ers and foragers and laborers generally ? Are they organ- 

 ized into "unions," with chapels, delegates, brotherhoods, 

 chiefs, boards, circles, and assemblies, who have grad- 

 ually developed an influence that controls the common- 

 wealth? On the contrary, perhaps the most perfect- 

 known example of absolute "individualism' 1 ' among so- 



301 



