THE RISE OP CONSCIOUSNESS 



among other creatures, it is true ; but the likeness 

 is only superficial. 



All the inmates of a beehive, for instance, ap- 

 pear to be working in concert towards a common 

 end : but each individual is really working inde- 

 pendently, obeying the imperative instinct with 

 which it is endowed by nature; and the fact 

 that its work dovetails in so well with the work 

 of the other members of the community is due 

 to the evolution of the species as a gregarious 

 insect. 



In the body of the individual bee we see a curi- 

 ously close parallel to the organization of the 

 community in which it lives ; for the bee, with its 

 nerve-centers placed at intervals down the length 

 of its body, has no central brain directing the 

 harmonious action of its various limbs and organs. 

 These act so independently of each other that 

 if the body is cut off when the bee is drinking 

 syrup the legs will continue to cling to the rim of 

 the vessel, while the mouth continues to suck up 

 the liquid, neither being aware that this pours out 

 at the severed waist as fast as it is taken in at the 

 head. At the same time the severed body, which 

 ought to be receiving the syrup, will be darting 

 its sting in and out in futile obedience to the in- 

 stinct of self-defense. 



Similarly, during a great battle of the large 

 [121] 



;/ ' si 







