26 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Bei 



of flaunting elegance exhibited by both the peacock and the 

 vain belle of fashionable society. F. 



How to Test the Worth of any Being. 



If we put ourselves entirely on one side, and try to look at 

 animal life as a thing in which we had no part, we should, of 

 course, in attempting to fix the rank of any being, be guided 

 almost exclusively by the range and complexity of the duties 

 the creature was enabled to fulfil. We should use function 

 almost by itself as a test of worth, and should look upon 

 structure as simply the means to an end. Dignity of function, 

 springing as it does out of intricate and finished machinery, 

 must, when we look at animals apart from ourselves, form the 

 standard by which rank in life can be judged. On the one 

 hand, we may ponder over the dreary simplicity of a fish's life, 

 the monotony of its daily swim, the low character and even 

 small amount of nervous energy required to move its uniform 

 masses of muscle, and the feeble working of its diminutive 

 brain limited apparently to the stirring up, through rough and 

 gross sensual perceptions, of a turbid consciousness, which the 

 accumulation of even years of experience can hardly mould into 

 anything like intelligence. Even in performing that duty which 

 usually calls forth the highest cerebral activity, viz., the care of 

 the young, the greatest effort of the fish is perhaps to construct 

 a nest of the rudest kind. But turning from these cold and 

 flabby creatures to the gifted bee, and meditating upon its bright 

 and varied life on those wonderful exhibitions of its power 

 and skill which never fail to excite the admiration of mankind, 

 and on its finely-wrought and compact organisation put to use 

 in the facile accomplishments of difficult and delicate tasks, we 

 think it natural to rank so full a life above that of the plainer 

 vertebrate. The bee's life is as short as it is bright : it has 

 little time to learn ; little opportunity of accumulating experience 

 either for itself or for its offspring. If it were long-lived, and 

 the race to continue long-lived through many generations, there 

 would probably cease to be any dispute about the reason and 

 instinct of bees. If we are to consider mankind as standing at 

 the head of creation, we can only do so b.y virtue of our many 



