298 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



appears to be very generally used. The antennae perform 

 the office ; and in the manner in which they are applied to 

 the antennae of another insect, and the motions which are 

 executed by them, these organs are capable of communica- 

 ting the state of feeling with great precision. When a queen 

 bee, for instance, is removed from a hive, those bees which 

 first perceive the loss, when they meet with others, mu- 

 tually cross their antennae and strike them lightly. The 

 anxiety and disturbed state of those that have received the 

 blow, indicate plainly the nature of the intelligence which 

 has been communicated. It is probable, that molluscous 

 animals, furnished with tentacula, employ, in like manner, 

 these organs in the communication of their feelings. 



We might here take notice of the mutual communication 

 of feeling, by means of smell, were the facts which are 

 known, in connection with the subject, sufficient to illustrate 

 this department of the animal economy. It is, however, 

 well known, that, at the particular season when the procre* 

 ative appetite is in exercise, smells are emitted which en- 

 able the sexes to discover each other. The emission of 

 these effluvia cease with the season of love. 



However various these different means employed by ani- 

 mals to communicate their feelings appear to be, it is ge- 

 nerally believed, that man alone possesses the power of ex- 

 pressing distinctly past events to others. The lower ani- 

 mals are almost exclusively occupied with their present 

 impressions ; and their language appears suited only to 

 express these. I have said almost, because there is evi- 

 dence of the power possessed by various animals, of com- 

 municating intelligence to others of a supply of food which 

 has been discovered, and of guiding them to the spot. But 

 still this is in a great measure the business of the present 

 time. Man, on the other hand, by means of his acquired 

 language, can express the feelings which, on any former 

 period, he has experienced ; and, by means of artificial 



