Chap. VL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 299 



The operations of this Power ofNaturc,which we call Indind.are fo 

 wonderfully artificial in feme ani.nals, that I am not furprifcd that a 

 man not learned in the philofophy of Mind flioulJ believe that they 

 have Intelligence as well as we. Bclidcs the examples I have already 

 given, I will give one more, taken from that moft curious little infect^ 

 the greatcfl artift, perhaps, of the Brute kind; I mean the Bee. I be- 

 lieve nobody will maintain, except it be for the pleafure of difpu- 

 ting and contradicting, that this animal knows the rules of Geome- 

 try, by which it makes its hexagons, and joins them together in 

 fuch a way, that, with the leaft expence of materials, it makes its 

 cells contain the greateft quantity of honey poiTible, as has been 

 clearly demonftratcd. it is therefore admitted that the Bee is no 

 Geometer : But ftill, it may be faid, that the Bee has Intelligence,, 

 as we fee many men have, though it be not methodiied into Art and 

 Science. But I aik,Does the Bee know for what endlhe woiks r and 

 I think we muft anfwer, That fhe does not ; for, if otherwife, we muft 

 fuppofe that the unorganized Bodies, fuch as falts, which being dif— 

 folved, form themfelves again into cryftals of figures as regular as the; 

 cells of the Bees, know for what end they ad, which, I believe, is 

 more knowledge than any man has. If,^ therefore, the Bee does not 

 know the end for which fhe ads, ihe certainly does not know that 

 the means fhe ufcs are fubfervient to that end; and, if fhe knows nei- 

 ther end nor means, it is clear that fhe has not Intelligence, and alfo 

 that fhe ads without deliberation, without intention, and neceflarily. 

 But has fhe not Confc'ioufnefs ? Does fhe not know what fhe is doing ? 

 — And I fay fhe does not ; for, otherwife, flie would not only have 

 Intelligence, but that prime faculty of Intelled, by which it recog- 

 nizes itfelf and its own operations. — In one word, fhe would rejle6l :■ 

 For every Animal, that knows what he is doing, refleds ; a thing which 

 we ourfelves do not always do : For nothing is more true than what 

 is commonly faid, that we often ad without knowing what we are 

 doing. The Bee, however, ads by Intelligence, though fhe has it 

 not herfelf, but by an Intelligence much fuperior to the human, no 



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