CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR 15 
to subsequent means of digestion; nerve, brain, and sense- 
organs differentiate. A going machine in the egg, the chick . 
is hatched, and forthwith enters on a wider field of behaviour. 
Few would think of attributing to the consciousness of the 
embryo chick any guiding influence on the development of its 
bodily structure, any control over the subtle changes and dis- 
positions of its constituent cells. But no sooner does the 
chick, when it is hatched, begin to show wider modes of in- 
stinctive behaviour, than we invoke conscious intelligence for 
their explanation, seemingly forgetful of the fact that there is 
no logical ground for affirming that, while the marvellous 
delicacies of structure are of unconscious organic origin, the 
early modes of instinctive behaviour are due to the guidance 
of consciousness. Such modes of behaviour will, however, be 
considered in another chapter. Here we have to notice that 
the unquestionably organic behaviour of the incorporated re- 
public of cells may attain to a high degree of complexity, and 
may serve a distinctly biological end. 
There is, perhaps, no more striking instance of rapid and 
vigorous growth than is afforded by the antlers of deer,* which 
are shed and renewed every year. In the early summer, when 
growing, they are covered over with a dark hairy skin, and are 
said to be “‘in velvet.” If you lay your hand on the growing 
antler, you will feel that it is hot with the nutrient blood that 
is coursing beneath it. It is, too, exceedingly sensitive and 
tender. An army of tens of thousands of busy living cells is 
at work beneath that velvet surface, building the bony antlers, 
preparing for the battles of autumn. Each minute cell, working 
for the general good, takes up from the nutrient blood the 
special materials it requires ; elaborates the crude bone-stuff, 
at first soft as wax, but ere long to become hard as stone ; and 
then, having done its work, having added its special morsel to 
the fabric of the antler, remains embedded and immured, buried 
beneath the bone-products of its successors or descendants. 
No hive of bees is busier or more replete with active life than 
* This paragraph is taken from “Animal Life and Intelligence,” 
p. 28. 
