The Life of the Bee 



in the sphere of man — interventions that 

 may be more hidden, but not the less 

 fraught with danger? And in the case 

 before us, which is right, in the end, — the 

 insect, or nature ? What would happen 

 if the bees, more docile perhaps, or 

 endowed with a higher intelligence, were 

 too clearly to understand the desires of 

 nature, and to follow them to the extreme ; 

 to multiply males to infinity, seeing that 

 nature is imperiously calling for males ? 

 Would they not risk the destruction of 

 their species ? Are we to believe that 

 there are intentions in nature that it is 

 dangerous to understand too clearly, fatal 

 to follow with too much ardour ; and that 

 it is one of her desires that we should not 

 divine, and follow, all her desires ? Is it 

 not possible that herein there may lie one 

 of the perils of the human race ? We too 

 are aware of unconscious forces within us, 

 that would appear to demand the reverse 



