Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-11-29

day, who approached his face too near to
q nest, was spit or shot at (whatever be
The engine used to eject the formic acid,
for his pains; and was Obliged to draw
back his eyes precipitately from the sharp,
stinging volley.
They understand each other, it is said,
by means OF the antennH. No doubt,
touch, when sufficiently cultivated, even
in man, is an extraordinary medium of
communication, as was seen in Laura
Bridgcman, the blind, deaf mute; but one
would like to understand the ants finger
alphabet.
The hand in man is considered mira.
| Gle of art; but the ant seems to use his
six feet indiiierently, as prehensile organs,
to hold, to pull, to lift, to drag, to cling
The keenness of their smell appears to be
marvellous, so that not so much as cock
roach can die in the corner of dark
room but the enterprising portion of the
race living in India, who eat everything
and go everywhere, contrive to find it
out and carry it away.
But to us the most extraordinary of
their qualities is the power of self sacri-
fee, the almost moral elevation, whereby
the good of the individual is given up to
that of the community. A line of ants
on their travels were once seen trying to
pass little stream, which proved too
rapid for them to cross. At last they
hooked themselves on each to each, and
thus gradually made a chain, which was
carried obliquely to the other shore by the
current. Many were drowned and lost in
the process; the foremost of the band
were often baffled, and knocked about in
the rushing water; but the floating bridge
was at last complete; and the rest of the
army marched in safety upon the bodies
of their self-sacrifcing fellows. Could
any socalled reasoning men have done
better, or as well? Our pontoons are not
made of living men.
In India, the precautions taken against
their voracity are many and ingenious;
but the man is almost always bafiled by
the insect Wood, paper, cloth, pro-
visions, everything but metal, is con-
sumed; even the legs of tables are hol-
lowed out, and left standing as empty
shells, which give way at touch. In
one case, some preserves had been put in
a closet, isolated from the wall, with feet
set in basins of water The ants how
ever, were not to be so outwitted; they
crawled up to the ceiling, and let them
selves down, each ant hanging on to the
one above him, till the last link touched
the goal, when stream of hungry appli.
cants ran down, and made short work of
the coveted treasure. Did those who
thus protited give any of the food TO the
self-sacrifcing members of the living
chain, / wonder? And what reward did
the patriot receive who held on to the
ceiling, and bore the weight of the rope
of ants?
No wonder that the emmet has been
held up as model of wisdom and indus
try since men have "made morals" at all;
that Solomon declares the ants to be "a
people not strong, but exceedingly WISE"
who "prepare their meat in the summer"
that Milton talks with respect of "the
emmet, provident of fu-
ture-
:" In small room, large heart enclosed"
But the highest praise he has received is
from MIR. Darwin, who says that "the
size of the brain is closely connected with
higher mental powers; and the cerebral
ganglia of ants is of extraordinary com.
payaPpe dimensions. Still, cubic con-
tel IRE no accurate gauge: there may
be ? -" ordinary mental activity with ex-
trt, = y small absolute mass of nervous
matter" 1t seems as if the fineness of
the quality was more important even than
its quantity. "The wonderfully diversi. !
fed instincts, mental powers, and affec-
tions of ants, exist with cerebral ganglia !
not so large as the quarter of "a small |
pins head" A son of Mr.. Darwin sue
ceeded in the anatomy of an ants brain;
and his father observes, at is one of the |
most marvellous atoms of matter in the
so even than the brain of
man."
Yet such is the prodigal wealth of ma
ture that millions on millions of these
marvellous atoms" come into the world
every summer, with apparently no other
end than to be eaten and crushed, and to
die in hundred different ways, after
their few days of life. Their use in the
world, as far as we can fathom it, is as
but, if we had been born ants,
we should probably consider this a
wretchedly perfunctory account of the be
all and end all of our existence.
The ant may not be able to see very
far; but one has painful perception that |
our own vision is relatively not much |
ess narrow.-GO0d Words.