194 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



keep his foursome one a primordial struggle 

 toward unity of self and division of labor; my 

 consciousness climbed the microscope tube and 

 came to rest upon a slim glass of amber liquid 

 on my laboratory table: a servant had brought 

 a cocktail, for it was New Year's Eve. (Now 

 the thought came that there were a number of 

 worthy people who would also approve of this 

 approximation!) I looked at the small spirit- 

 uous luxury, and I thought of my friends in 

 New York, and then of the Attas in front of 

 the laboratory. With my electric flash I went 

 out into the starlight, and found the usual hosts 

 struggling nestward with their chlorophyll bur- 

 dens, and rushing frantically out into the black 

 jungle for more and yet more leaves. My mind 

 swept back over evolution from star-dust to Kar- 

 tabo compound, from Gonium to man, and to 

 these leaf-cutting ants. And I wondered 

 whether the Attas were any the better for be- 

 ing denied the stimulus of temptation, or 

 whether I was any the worse for the opportunity 

 of refusing a second glass. I went back into 

 the house, and voiced a toast to tolerance, to 

 temperance, and to pterodactyls and drank 

 my cocktail. 



