66 CREATIVE EVOLUTION 



CHAP. 



aims at fabrication, we must add that, for that as well 

 as for other purposes, it is associated with other 

 intellects. Now, it is difficult to imagine a society 

 whose members do not communicate by signs. Insect 

 societies probably have a language, and this language 

 must be adapted, like that of man, to the necessities of 

 life in common. By language community of action is 

 made possible. But the requirements of joint action 

 are not at all the same in a colony of ants and in a 

 human society. In insect societies there is generally 

 polymorphism, the subdivision of labour is natural, 

 and each individual is riveted by its structure to the 

 function it performs. In any case, these societies are 

 based on instinct, and consequently on certain actions 

 or fabrications that are more or less dependent on the 

 form of the organs. So if the ants, for instance, have 

 a language, the signs which compose it must be very 

 limited in number, and each of them, once the species 

 is formed, must remain invariably attached to a ce :uin 

 object or a certain operation : the sign is adherent to 

 the thing signified. In human society, on the con 

 trary, fabrication and action are of variable form, and, 

 moreover, each individual must learn his part, because 

 he is not preordained to it by his structure. So a 

 language is required which makes it possible to be 

 always passing from what is known to what is yet 

 to be known. There must be a language whose signs 

 which cannot be infinite in number are extensible 

 to an infinity of things. This tendency of the sign to 

 transfer itself from one object to another is character 

 istic of human language. It is observable in the little 

 child as soon as he begins to speak. Immediately 

 and naturally he extends the meaning of the words 

 he learns, availing himself of the most accidental con- 



