Packaud.1 mental powers OF INSECTS. 377 



anatomical investigations that the number of nerve cells in 

 the small ganglia of the bee must be very small, perhaps a 

 few hundreds at the most ; on this hypothesis the number of 

 acquisitions must be correspondingly small. Now there is 

 not the differences between the brains of insects that there 

 is in vertebrate animals. There is a great uniformity in the 

 size of the nerve centres of different insects, and on ana- 

 tomical grounds there would seem to be a reason for assert- 

 ing that insects can never progress in intellect much beyond 

 their present status. We are only endeavoring to prove that 

 insects have the primary intellectual divisions of the human 

 mind, but the chasm that still separates man from the lower 

 animals is vast in its width and depth. If we approach the 

 subject fi'om the side of anatomy and physiology the method 

 is far less materialistic than that of him who advocates the 

 view that animals are automata and act through instinct 

 alone. 



Having attempted to show that insects have a mind, in its 

 three-fold divisions of the sensibilities, will and intellect, and 

 supported in this view by the opinions of the ablest natural- 

 ists and philosophers, let us look at some secondary mental 

 characteristics resulting from the mutual operation of all 

 these primary' dei)artments of the mind, and which insects 

 seem to have in common with ourselves. 



From some facts previously stated, it seems well estab- 

 lished that antG and a few other insects have the highly com- 

 plicated mental power of communicating their ideas to one 

 another. Dr. Franklin believed that ants had this power, 

 and to put the matter to a test he put a little earthen pot, 

 containing some treacle, into a closet, where a number of 

 ants soon congregated, and began to prey on the contents. 

 " When it was all eaten the Doctor cleared the pot of the 

 ants, and putting some fresh treacle into it, susi)endcd it by 

 a string from a nail in the ceiling. By chance a single ant 

 remained in the pot, which ate as long as it thought proper ; 



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