94 ANIMAL LIFE AND HUMAN PROGllBSS 



be done by reducing \^'^astage. Thus there is room for a great 

 development of bee-keeping in Britain, for bees collect large 

 quantities of food which would otherwise be lost. They are 

 able to feed themselves and yet produce much honey for us. 

 We cannot look at a vigorous hive in summer without being 

 impressed with the commonplace that the busy creatures are 

 storing up energy for us in their honey, and yet asking nothing 

 from us. The feeding of bees with sugar is modern and 

 probably deleterious. The inter-linldng of man and bees and 

 flowers is a fine instance of the web of life ; but there is an 

 unfortunate knot- — Isle of Wight bee -disease — which has 

 wrought havoc among bees in Britain and elsewhere. But 

 there is good reason to believe that the knot will soon be 

 disentangled. 



We hope that there are few able-minded people who will 

 regard the illustrations we have given of man's share in the 

 web of life as " diversions of natural history." It is really far 

 otherwise. If we are to persist and advance in civilisation, 

 we must pay more heed to the web of life, to all the queer 

 junctions in our lines of communications. We cannot play 

 the game without observing the rules, and the rules include a 

 recognition of the web of life. We are parts of a system. 

 Pressing hard and inconsiderately to a practical end may 

 mean temporary victory and final defeat. Nothing lives or 

 dies to itself. It is not the first nor the second consequence 

 of a move that counts, but the sum of consequences. 



But there is something more valuable to be gathered from 

 our study than a conviction of the practical importance of the 

 web of life ; there is the suggestion that this way of looking 

 at things is the accurate, the scientific way, and that it must 

 dominate us when we are investigating the affairs of men. 

 We should try to acquire as a habit of mind the vision of the 

 web of life. For while we are part of the great Systema 

 Naturae, bound to it by linkages which we have been 

 considering, we are also a kingdom among ourselves, 

 bound together in mutual dependence and influence in 

 infinitely complex ways. There can be no permanently 

 sound social action which does not recognise our solidarity. 



