THE SWAR.M 



out their consent that they find them- 

 selves gathered together. This society, 

 therefore, is no more than a physical as- 

 semblage ordained by nature, and inde- 

 pendent either of !<no\vledge, or reason, 

 or aim. The mother-bee produces ten 

 thousand individuals at a time, and in 

 the same place: these ten thousand indi- 

 viduals, were they a thousand times 

 stupider than I suppose them to be, would 

 be compelled, for the mere purpose of 

 existence, to contrive some form of 

 arrangement : and, assuming that they had 

 begun by injuring each other, they would, 

 as each one possesses the same strength 

 as its fellow, soon have ended by doing 

 each other the least possible harm, or, in 

 other words, by rendering assistance. 



[70] 



