Dul] AND SYMBOLS. 97 



Huber tells us the latter plant their stings so deeply for the 

 most part between the segments of the abdomen that they 

 cannot extricate themselves without turning as upon a pivot. 

 The cruelty apparent in the fierceness of the attack is perhaps 

 only kindness, for the wound is immediately fatal ; the drones 

 expand their wings and die. B. w. 



Dull Natures are Splendid Pain-Bearers. 



In reptiles and batrachians the brain is small, a peculiarity 

 which explains their slight intelligence and the almost entire 

 impossibility of teaching them anything. They can, it is true, be 

 tamed ; but although they seem to know individuals, they do not 

 seem to be susceptible of affection ; the slight compass of their 

 brain renders them very insensible. This insensibility to pain 

 enables them to support mutilations which would prove imme- 

 diately fatal to most other animals. For instance, the common 

 lizard frequently breaks its tail in its abrupt movements. But 

 this curtailment does not seem to affect him ; he waits patiently 

 for the return of the organ, which complaisant Nature renews as 

 often as it becomes necessary. A tortoise will continue to live 

 and walk for six months after it is deprived of its brain. It is 

 obvious, therefore, that these kinds of creatures can endure very 

 splendidly that which, in the ordinary way, would be called 

 pain, not because they have fortitude, but because they have 

 insensibility. They remind us in this of many men and 1 

 women who get great credit for the manner in which they 

 endure the ills of life. Some are praised for their Christianity, 

 others for their philosophy, others for their magnanimity, when 

 investigation will often reveal the fact that the real reason of 

 their composure is to be found in their low organisation. When 

 a moral hero bears pain with bravery he does so at an immense 

 effort, because, since he has capacity for vast feeling, so also 

 has he capacity for vast suffering. When a dull and stupid man 

 endures suffering with resignation it is because his nature is not 

 endowed with high sensibility. Extremes meet, and he often 

 takes his stand by the hero and is applauded for virtues which 

 he does not possess. A tortoise-brained man will actually enjoy 

 himself under calamities which would crush a poet. KB. 



G 



ix 



