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 humanity⁠—certainly in animal and insect life⁠—one soul is shared by many. Behind a tribe of savages stands one Savage. A flock of birds is a single Bird, scattered through the consciousness of all. They wheel in mid-air, they migrate, they obey the deep intelligence called instinct⁠—all as one. The life of any one lion is the life of all⁠—the lion group-soul that manifests itself in the entire genus. An ant-heap is a single Ant; through the bees spreads the consciousness of a single Bee.'

Henriot knew what she was working up to. In his eagerness to hasten disclosure he interrupted⁠

'And there may be types of life that have no corresponding bodily expression at all, then?' he asked as though the question were forced out of him. 'They exist as Powers⁠—unmanifested on the earth today?'

'Powers,' she answered, watching him closely with unswerving stare, 'that need a group to provide their body⁠—their physical expression⁠—if they came back.'

'Came back!' he repeated below his breath.

But she heard him. 'They once had expression. Egypt, Atlantis knew them⁠—spiritual Powers that never visit the world today.'

'Bodies,' he whispered softly, 'actual bodies?'

'Their sphere of action, you see, would be their body. And it might be physical outline. So potent a descent of spiritual life would select materials for its body where it could find them. Our conventional notion of a body⁠—what is it? A single outline moving altogether in one direction. For little human souls, or fragments, this is sufficient. But for vaster types of soul an entire host would be required.'