432 Eimer on Grozvth and Inheritance 



conclusion. He is one of those whose great object it is ta 

 try and persuade themselves and others that they are not 

 what we mean by ' men/ but mere ' irrational animals/ free 

 from the rule of any Higher Being here, and free also from 

 any responsibility for their actions hereafter. It would be 

 wonderful and inexplicable that any one should be animated 

 by such a passion for self-degradation, did we not know hoAv 

 strongly many a man may be tempted to feel ' Lord of him- 

 self, that heritage of woe.' Few things seem unwelcome to 

 such persons, if only they can escape the dreaded need of 

 being called on to adore, obey, and serve. 



' Good/ Eimer tells v&} ' is not something prescribed from with- 

 out ; we call only this the good which is serviceable to the common 

 well-being, and because it has become serviceable to the common 

 well-being.' 



This amounts to a denial that there is such a thing a& 

 ' goodness ' at all. 



Of course, concomitantly with the degradation of his own 

 species, he treats us to that exaggeration of the psychical 

 powers of mere animals which is a characteristic of the 

 school to which he belongs, and which, as we shall see, has 

 a tendency as fatal to freedom as to intellectual life. 



Thus, as to the ' Mental Life of a Bee,' he affirms — ^ 



* that it shows reason in a high degree. The animals act throughout 

 according to the requirements of a well-organised State in various 

 directions. They act in complete accordance with the common 

 interest of all the single members of the State, and with the require- 

 ments of the future. It is true that it seems to the observer as if 

 this action was in many cases mechanical, as if the animal's conduct 

 was in particular instances not the direct result of mental reasoning, 

 but as if they performed reasonable actions mechanically. But in 

 other instances we are compelled to admit that, afier fully considering 

 the 'particular circumstances, they do what is best for the future and 

 for the common weal. If we suppose, for example, that the coUec- 



^ P. 434. - P. 424. The italics are ours throughout. 



