How much weariness has there been in the human race during the 
last fifty years, because the human race cannot stop politically where it 
was, and, finding no rest, is pushed to a strange future that the wisest 
look forward to gravely, as certainly very dark, and probably very danger- 
ous! Meanwhile have the bees suffered any political uneasiness? have 
they doubted the use of royalty, or begrudged the cost of their Queen ? 
Have those industrious republicans, the ants, gone about uneasily seeking 
after a sovereign? Has the eagle grown weary of his isolation, and 
sought strength in the practice of socialism? Has the dog become too 
enlightened to endure any longer his position as man’s humble friend, 
and contemplated a canine union for mutual protection against masters ? 
No! the great principles of these existences are superior to change ; and 
that which man is perpetually seeking, a political order in perfect 
harmony with his condition, the brute has inherited with his instincts. 
P. G. Hamerton. Chapters on Animals. 
Presumption is our natural and original disease. Man withdraws and 
separates himself from the crowd of other creatures ; cuts out the shares 
of the animals, his fellows and companions; and distributes to them 
portions of faculties and force, as himself thinks fit. How does he know, 
by the strength of his understanding, the secret and internal motions of 
animals ?—MonTAIGNE. 
