The Life of the Bee 



in the sphere of man — interventions that 

 may be more hidden, but not the less 

 fraught with danger ? And in the case 

 before us, which is right, in the end, — the 

 insect, or nature ? What would happen 

 if the bees, more docile perhaps, or 

 endowed with a higher intelligence, were 

 too clearly to understand the desires of 

 nature, and to follow them to the extreme ; 

 to multiply males to infinity, seeing that 

 nature is imperiously calling for males ? 

 Would they not risk the destruction of 

 their species ? Are we to believe that 

 there are intentions in nature that it is 

 dangerous to understand too clearly, fatal 

 to follow with too much ardour ; and that 

 it is one of her desires that we should not 

 divine, and follow, all her desires ? Is it 

 not possible that herein there may lie one 

 of the perils of the human race? We too 

 are aware of unconscious forces within us, 

 that would appear to demand the reverse 



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