COMMUNITY LIFE 
545 
find the lower animals, especially insects, succeeding in their 
struggle for existence because of their community life, we 
do well to apply some of the lessons of the honey-bee to our 
life as members of a community. Honey-bees are instinc¬ 
tively sanitary. When an insect too large to move is killed 
in their hive, they embalm it. This tends to make the hive 
sanitary. Man in building sewage disposal plants and sewer 
systems is improving the health of the community. It is 
for the best interests of the majority that such care be taken 
with regard to public health. 
Honey-bees remove all waste pieces of rubbish, dirt, and 
loose pieces of every description from their hives. If a 
larva dies in the comb, the bees remove it and scrape and 
polish the wax directly. Honey-bees have epidemics such 
as “ foul brood.” The bees that clean their hives most and 
work the hardest to keep clean are quickest to recover. 
Human animals are subject to epidemics, and those that 
work the hardest to keep clean and use care recover most 
quickly. Man has learned that many diseases are conta¬ 
gious, and quarantines are maintained to prevent their 
spread. 
Bees never enter the hive of another colony unless to rob 
it of honey. But foul brood often kills or weakens an 
entire colony and the robber bees who enter and steal the 
honey carry home also the disease and thus it spreads. If 
the honey-bees maintained their usual habit of not going 
into other colonies, the disease would spread with difficulty. 
Bees act from instinct, and man is endowed with reason 
in addition to his instinct, and, naturally, we find man at his 
best carrying on a much broader line of community activi¬ 
ties ; for example, setting aside large tracts for public parks, 
in order that all people may go and enjoy the growing plants 
and see the animal life in its varying aspects. 
Man is improved mentally and spiritually by getting away 
from the daily routine of a business or professional life and 
