The Life of the Bee 



that we see before us ! " the fact is merely 

 that our special attention has been drawn 

 to some tiny manifestation of life upon 

 the boundless surface of matter that we 

 deem inactive, and choose to describe, with 

 evident inaccuracy, as nothingness and 

 death. A purely fortuitous chain of 

 events has allowed this special manifesta- 

 tion to attract our attention ; but a thou- 

 sand others, no less interesting, perhaps, 

 and informed with no less intelligence, 

 have vanished, not meeting with a like 

 good-fortune, and have lost for ever the 

 chance of exciting our wonder. It were 

 rash to affirm aught beside ; and all that 

 remains, our reflections, our obstinate 

 search for the final cause, our admiration 

 and hopes — all these in truth are no 

 more than our feeble cry as, in the depths 

 of the unknown, we clash against what is 

 more unknowable still ; and this feeble 

 cry declares the highest degree of indi- 

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