Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/341

Rh that the labor of each is for the good of all is stronger than ever. It is not expressly formulated, but it exists everywhere in practice. Men work less and less for their individual interests, and more and more for the good of the community. The woodsman who fells a tree in a Western forest has no thought of using its wood for himself, lie neither knows nor cares what may become of it. But he knows that in one region a farmer is raising grain, and in another an artisan is weaving cloth, and that some of these will come to him in exchange for his labor. And between woodsman, farmer, and artisan, are fifty or five hundred other individuals, each of whom takes some part in this exchange of products. Neither of these parties works directly for himself, yet each works for the good of all in a far higher and more developed sense than in the analogous case of the communal insects.

It is necessary now to return to another phase of the subject here considered, that relating to the intellectual development of animals. It has often been a source of wonder that the ants and bees have advanced so far in intellectual achievement beyond all other members of the insect class, and that many of their habits and institutions so closely simulate those of human society. This latter, indeed, is but another evidence of the law above considered, that all evolution, whether physical or mental, is controlled by one general principle, and must follow one naturally determined course. But the superior intellectuality of these low forms of life is in itself a phenomenon that calls for some special attention.

A glance at the situation at once reveals that this superiority of intellectual progress must in some way be connected with the communal stage of association, since it is manifested only by the communal animals, the ants, bees, termites, and beavers, and is not shown in any of the solitary species of these zoölogical groups. Evidence pointing in the same direction may be found in the habits of the social animals, which seem to have reasoned out the expedient of stationing sentries to guard them against danger while feeding. And it is interesting in this connection to perceive that the elephants, the most advanced of the herbivora in social combination, likewise display the greatest intellectual advancement.

We might deduce from these facts either the conclusion that intellectual development is favored by close association and communalism, or the reverse conclusion that an original superior intellectuality was the inciting cause of communal association. A consideration of all the facts of the case seems to prove that the former conclusion is the correct one. For observation indicates that individually the communal insects are not superior in intellect to the solitary species. Take the ant beyond the range of his hereditary instincts, and he seems a duller creature than the spider. The same conclusion applies to the beaver, which is said to be much duller, so far as individual powers of intellect