The Life of the Bee 
that we see before us!”’ the fact is merely 
that our special attention has-been drawn 
to some tiny manifestation of life upon 
the boundless surface of matter that we 
deem inactive, and choose to describe, with 
evident inaccuracy, as nothingness and 
death. A purely fortuitous chain of 
events has allowed this special manifesta- 
tion to attract our attention ; but a thou- 
sand others, no less interesting, perhaps, 
and informed with no less intelligence, 
have vanished, not meeting with a like 
good-fortune, and have lost for ever the 
chance of exciting our wonder. It were 
‘rash to affirm aught beside; and all that 
remains, our reflections, our obstinate 
search for the final cause, our admiration 
and hopes—all these*in truth are no 
more than our feeble cry as, in the depths 
of the unknown, we clash against what is 
more unknowable still; and this feeble 
cry declares the highest degree of indi- 
228 
