WAYS OF NATURE 
Animals are wise as Nature is wise; they partake, 
each in its own measure, of that universal intelli- 
gence, or mind-stuff, that is operative in all things 
— in the vegetable as well as in the animal world. 
Does the body, or the life that fills it, reason when 
it tries to get rid of, or to neutralize the effects of, a 
foreign substance, like a bullet, by encysting it? or 
when it thickens the skin on the hand or on any 
other part of the body, even forming special pads 
called callosities, as a result of the increased wear or 
friction? This may be called physiological intelli- 
gence. 
But how blind this intelligence is at times, or how 
wanting in judgment, may be seen when it tries to 
develop a callosity upon the foot as a result of the 
friction of the shoe, and overdoes the matter and 
produces the corn. The corn is a physiological blun- 
der. Or see an unexpected manifestation of this 
intelligence when we cut off the central and leading 
shoot of a spruce or of a pine tree, and straightway 
one of the lateral and horizontal branches rises up, 
takes the place of the lost leader, and carries the 
tree upward; or in the roots of a tree working their 
way through the ground much like molten metal, 
parting and uniting, taking the form of whatever 
object they touch, shaping themselves to the rock, 
flowing into its seams, the better to get a grip upon 
the earth and thus maintain an upright position. 
In the animal world this foresight becomes psychic 
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