PHILOSOPHIC ANTS 191 



double our own length in one direction. If we could 

 conceivably enter into a single inorganic molecule, 

 we should find ourselves one of a moving host of similar 

 objects : and we should further perceive that these 

 objects were themselves complex, some like double 

 stars, others star-clusters, others single suns, and all 

 again built of lesser units held in a definite plan, in an 

 architecture reminding us (if we still had memory) of a 

 solar system in miniature. If we were lucky enough 

 to be in a complicated fluid like sea-water, we should 

 be intrigued by the relations of the different kinds of 

 particles. They would be continually coming up 

 to other particles of different kinds, and would then 

 sometimes enter into intimate union with them. If 

 we could manage to follow their history, we should 

 find that after a time they would separate, and seek 

 new partners, of the same or of different species. 

 Some kinds of the units, or people as we should be 

 inclined to call them, would spend most of their 

 existence in the married state, others would apparently 

 prefer to remain single, or, if they married, would 

 within no long time obtain divorce. 



We should be forcibly reminded of life in some 

 cosmopolitan city like London or New York. If 

 there existed a registrar to note down the events of 

 these little beings' existence, and we were privileged 

 to inspect the register, we should find that each had 

 its own history, different from that of every other 

 in its course and its matrimonial adventures. 



