Dor, indeed, can we do ought but wonder at the 

 flight and buoyancy of birds ; the itslinctof dops : 

 the extraordinary velocity of some fishes possessed 

 of fins apparently inadequate to move the bulky- 

 mass, say, ot a dolphin, which, keeping pace for 

 miles with a fast ocean-guing steamer, will now 

 and then, with but little evident exeition, forge 

 ahead, go lound the ship and return to its position 

 alongside, while the mighty triple expansion 

 engines— looked alter by at least a dozen human 

 beings— aie laboriously furcing the ship along at 

 a dolphin's every day pace. The conttmplation 

 of these wonders of Nature has. I think, a humbling 

 ttndency on Man as Lord of Creation, and in 

 these days, perhaps, a little humility might do us 

 good ; let us therefore contemplate Man as one 

 group in the great Animal Kingdom, and go on to 

 compare his powers with those of other created 

 things. 



In the first place, and in order to infuse into us 

 a sufficiency of humility, what would happen if 

 Man were suddenly and totally removed fiom this 

 earth ? The world would go on just as it does 

 now, we shuuld not be missed, except tempotarily 

 by a few domestic animals— pet cats and dogs for 

 instance — who in a short time would adapt them- 

 selves to the wild life in which their progenitors 

 lived. Birds, beasts, fishes, all the host of living 

 and moving creatures would view our departure 

 with indifference ; most would not know we had 

 gone— the limitless members of the vegetable 

 kingdom would continue to live and reproduce 

 themselves as before ; rivers, no longer made 

 subcervient to man's w.ll, would ontinue to flow 

 onwards to the sea ; the tides would continue to 

 ebb and flow ; and all Nature would continue its 

 course as if Man hjid never exis'ed. 



This thought is bumbling, and scarcely accept- 

 able to our notions, unless we rememb. r that after 

 all we are but a section or family of the gieat 

 tiroup of Mammals, which in its turn is but a 

 family of the still greater kingdom of animals. 

 AVe may, perhaps, derive some comfort from the 

 thought thftt if, instead of Man, monkeys were 

 lemovtd theie would le equal indifl'trence to tte 

 change ; but, on the other l-and. Man would for a 

 long lime feel the absence of, say, hoises, or cows, 

 or shtep, while those animals would not miss us. 



We may even go turther in .'^ur self-abasement, 

 and consider that, whereas Man uould not be 

 missed by the vegetable kingdom, if Man were 

 left and the vegetable bingdoui lemovtd, what a 

 terrible catastrophe it would be. Ruminant 

 animals ^ould not exist ; our food must be the 

 flesh of carnivorous animals, who, in pi eying uptn 

 each other, would in a short time so reduce their 

 number that starvation would exterminate the 

 race of Alan and of beasts ; our clothing must be 

 the skin of carnivorous animals ; our housps built 

 entirely without wood ; and our fires kindled by 

 flint and natural iron. What an impossible world 

 it would te to live in if, out of the three kingdoms 

 designed by the Creator, one— the vegetable king- 

 dom—should be exterminated. 



But as such a catastrophn is not likely to occur, 

 let us, taking things as we find them, consider 

 Man's powers as compared with those of other 

 created living things. In the first place we must 

 be struck by the thought that Man is progressive. 



that is to say, what satisfies him to-day will not 

 satisfy him a few years or a genei-ation hence, 

 while other created things, animals, biids. fishes, 

 seemingly are ctntent to go on in the same way 

 as they did from prehistoric times. Man, perhaps, 

 first found shelter in natural caves, then constructed 

 mud huts to live in, and gradually improved upon 

 these huts until he lodged himself in stone or brick- 

 built houses of many storeys, with all kinds of new 

 inventions to give him light, air, wiirmth, and 

 comfort. 



Birds apparently construct their dwellings now 

 as thoy did in by-gone ages, and whether it is that 

 they are unable, or unwilling, to change their style 

 of architecture, they appear to be now in this 

 XlXth Century quite as content as they wer'* 

 centuries ago. Is the fact ot Man gradually 

 developing the modern villa from the original cave, 

 evidence of his superiority over birds, or is it 

 merely a token ot his restlessness? 



We pride ourselves, and with justice, on our 

 powerscf organization, wliereby a few men t^elected 

 out of a town population can rule that population, 

 see to its requirements, hygienic or educational, 

 and its safety and immunity from disease or 

 disaster; — we extend that orgiinizatiun to embrace 

 the rpquirempnts of the "i^hole nation, by means of 

 our Parliament and Supreme (xovernment: but 

 this elaborate system is the outcome of centuries 

 of experience and experiment; while apparently 

 such creatures as ants have, so long as thny have 

 existed, ktown how to live together iu huge 

 communities, with what must be the most elaborate 

 arrangements for self-governn;ent beyond the 

 dreams of the most advanced Socialist. 



No one can hwve watched the progress of an army 

 of white ants hurrying along iu an unbio'ien line 

 of hundreds of yards in length, in ptrfict order, 

 repelling the attacks of solitary etemies or of 

 bands of marauders intent on dc-iug as much 

 mischief as possible ; sending out tl.eir sctuts, who 

 convey news to their commanders, constructing 

 tunnels for themselves when it seems necessary to 

 march under cover, carrying their eggs with them, 

 providing themselves with food on the iiiaTch ; — 

 no one, I say, can have watched their wondei fully 

 organ Z'd expeditions without wondering wh^thtr 

 their generals are rot equal in admir>i>trative 

 talent to our own General Koberts or Kitchener, 

 whose marches, wonderful and successful though 

 they be, are fclluwed by lengthened periods of 

 inactivity for want of sti eugth, transport, or feed. 

 For thirteen years every morning I destroyed 

 a portion of the outworks of an encampmer.t nf 

 white ants, and yet before i e.\t niernicg the 

 damage was repaired. 1 hey would at once 

 decide on the repairs necesj-ary, provide the 

 materials and execute the work necessary for the 

 safety or comfort of their community. Man with all 

 his organisatior, Canterbuiy Man for iustance, in 

 the person of his local government could not daily 

 repair a breach in his City Wall with the same 

 speed, or with the same persistencj'. His govein- 

 uicnt is cumbrous compared with that of the ant 

 colony, and long before he repaired the wall, the 

 enemy would have entered or the Janrage would 

 have be^n done Man is hard pressed t'^ know 

 what to do with his dead, or how to dispose of the 

 sewerage of a City, the ant in his colony of sevcal 



