Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/136

Rh marvelous degree the life of the individual may be absorbed in subserving the lives of other individuals……Neither the ant nor the bee can be supposed to have a sense of duty, in the acceptation we give to that word; nor can it be supposed that it is continually undergoing self-sacrifice, in the ordinary acceptation of that word……[The facts] show us that it is within the possibilities of organization to produce a nature which shall be just as energetic and even more energetic in the pursuit of altruistic ends, as is in other cases shown in the pursuit of egoistic ends;—and they show that, in such cases, these altruistic ends are pursued in pursuing ends which, on their other face, are egoistic. For the satisfaction of the needs of the organization, these actions, conductive to the welfare of others, must be carried on……

"So far from its being true that there must go on, throughout all the future, a condition in which self-regard is to be continually subjected by the regard for others, it will, contrari-wise, be the case that a regard for others will eventually become so large a source of pleasure as to overgrow the pleasure which is derivable from direct egoistic gratification. …… Eventually, then, there will come also a state 註