THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



3t3: 



Murphy, Habits and Intelligence, 

 says: "Every animal that has well 

 developed eyes presents an instance 

 of the adaption of means to pur- 

 pose by unconscious formative in- 

 telligence, which is quite as defin- 

 ite as that shown in any motor in- 

 stinct, and far more delicate and 

 subtle." I quote this because bees 

 have NOT well developed eyes. 



In his work. Philosophy of the 

 Unconscious E. von Hartman says, 

 "instinct is purposive action with- 

 out consciousness of the purpose. 

 * * * * -pjjg Q^^ <-Q which a 



definite kind of instinctive action 

 is subservient, is not conceived once 

 for all by a mind standing outside 

 the individual like a providence, 

 and the necessity to act conformed- 

 Iv thereto externally thrust upon 

 the individual as something foreign 

 to him; but the end of the instinct 

 is in each single case unconscious- 

 ly willed and imagined by the in- 

 dividual, and the choice of means 

 suitable to each special case un- 

 consciously made." 



If the reader be curious to go 

 deeper into this study than the 

 pages of this work will permit let 

 him take up a careful reading of Mr. 

 Darwin's "Origin of Species." If he 

 vvill do so he will, I think, find that 

 it is very hard to decide where 

 reason leaves off and instinct be- 

 gins. Even in the human being, 

 reason is a thing of degrees. You 

 and I know many persons who can- 

 not tell cause from effect, in cer- 

 tain phenomena. The primitive peo- 

 ple found in different parts of the 

 world have in many cases very few 

 words and even fewer ideas to 

 express by them. They can count 

 up to ten, but they live and Iiave 

 lived for many generations. 



Reason is a thing of intelligence, 

 and is formed, as is habit. A new- 

 born babe will seize its mother's 

 breast and suck, but I do not think 

 anyone will credit the child with 

 reasoning powers; and possibly the 

 bee develops some reasoning pow- 

 ers, while not a reasoning animal 

 as man is. 



I cannot sympathize with Mr. 

 Odell's poetic flights. If I am a 

 sample of the "gentler folk" that 

 belong to the agricultural craft may 

 the Lord pity the rest for I believe 

 poetry has no place in scientific 

 research. Neither are beekeepers 



more intelligent and observing than 

 are other people, so far as I 

 have been able to observe, nor, 

 again do materialistic critics need 

 to declare "it is more important 

 that the beekeeper should reason 

 than the bee," for that is a self 

 evident fact. 



Had I room I should certainly 

 say a lot of nice things about Mr. 

 Odell, for he writes a good arti- 

 cle, according to his light, but, and 

 I know he will not think me impo- 

 lite or personal, he does not ob- 

 serve as closely as he might, and 

 consequently draws wrong inference. 

 For instance, his illustration using 

 the foundation on page 312 does 

 not conform to my observations. I 

 have given a newly captured swarm 

 of bees a hive filled with comb 

 and full sheet foundation which the 

 bees at once drew out, and on the 

 bottom of the hive found a hand- 

 ful of wax in scales. Not being used 

 it had fallen there. The production 

 of wax is an involuntary act or 

 phenomenon peculiar to certain con- 

 ditions. 



Neither is his Illustration, ac- 

 cording to my way of thinking, on 

 the next page an apt one, for every- 

 thing the bees do points to IN- 

 STINCTIVE action. 



I have no objection to Mr. Odell 

 trying to influence the jury by 

 assuming "At every point involved 

 in the successful solution of these 

 difficulties, (AND THEY NEVER 

 FAIL,) is evidence et cetera." The 

 solutions are not successful because 

 they are not solved. Man has been 

 studying psychology since Pythag- 

 oras began 2,500 years ago, and the 

 problem is so far as I can see, no 

 nearer solution. Volumes have been 

 written, and more will be, but al- 

 ways the question recurs, "Do the 

 lower forms of life reason?" 



I saw an example of the diffi- 

 culty some persons have of observ- 

 ing and reasoning at our little 

 meeting in Sioux City. A gentle- 

 man read extracts from a work and 

 talked about the bee. During his 

 conversation he remarked that the 

 bees put only one color of pollen in 

 one cell, I at once remembered that 

 I had observed otherwise, and men- 

 tioned it, but was surprised to find 

 that not one of the many other 

 beekeepers present, some of whom 

 had been at the business three 

 times as long as I had were able to 



