The Foundation of the City 



who is forever disturbing the most con- 

 stant laws, and producing grandiose, inex- 

 plicable phenomena. In the natural order 

 of things, in the monotonous life of the 

 forest, the madness Langstroth describes 

 would be possible only were some accident 

 suddenly to destroy a hive foil of honey. 

 But in this case, even, there would be no 

 fatal glass, no boiling sugar or cloying 

 syrup ; no death or danger, therefore, 

 other than that to which every animal is 

 exposed while seeking its prey. 



Should we be more successful than 

 they in preserving our presence of mind 

 if some strange power were at every step 

 to ensnare our reason? Let us not be 

 too hasty in condemning the bees for the 

 folly whereof we are the authors, or in de- 

 riding their intellect, which is as poorly 

 equipped to foil our artifices as our own 

 would be to foil those of some superior 



creature unknown to us to-day, but on 

 149 



