The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-05-14
GERMAN SCIENTIST
AND KING SOLOMON
DISAGREE ABOUT ANTS
EntoroIoeist Declares That the Insect
Is Pre- eminently an Exponent
Of Cleanliness.
Cozbats Views Of investigators Who
Say Household Pest Is Pos
sessed of Human intelligence.
Asserts There Would Be Less Diseas,
If Human Race Patterned
After Them.
Special Dispatch to The Can.


STRASBURG, May Is.-According to
DR.. Escherich, a learned entomologist Of
etrasburg University, Solomon erred In
commencing the ant TO the sluggard as a
shining example of wisdom and industry.
The German ssvant thinks Solomon
would better have justified his claim to be
regarded as the wisest man that ever
lived had be extolleo the ant as an ex-
ponent Of cleanliness. He has Just pub
hshed the results Of an exhaustive study
Of these wonderful insects. He combats
the views Of those investigators who as
Ggn 70 them almost human intelligence.
But as opponents Of that virtue which
stands next TO goodness, be maintains
that ants stand pre-eninent, and if the
human race would pattern after them in
this respect half the diseases on which
doctors thrive would vanish.
Ants, he declares, abhor dirt in any
form about their persons. Nature has
provided them with implements that serve
the same purpose as combs and brushes
IN the hands Of civilized folk, and they
make far more effective use of them.
They are never too busy to clean them
cE4h Ccs ~ .IoD - ~ EH- boA-b W ~ cNAAb
that he wont knock off work to clean
himself. he does not wait until the day S
lsbors sre finished TO perform his ablu-
lions. He is never too tired to lend an
other ant q hand-or rather a leg-to
effect a thorough securing. He viii toll
crate loafng occasionally, for the pro-
fessor asserts it is a mistake to suppose
that ants are everlastingly hunting up
jobs, but he wont put up with dirty
neighbors. Cleanliness is the supreme law
Of the community.
But the professor rather detracts from
the credit one would otherwise be dis
posed to give them for the practice of
this most exemplary virtue by telling US
that ants are driven to it by the condi
tons Of their existence. "Without the
most scrupulous cleanliness" he says,
. they could not recognize each other nor
communicate anything. The cohesion of
the individual with its fellows is main
tained solely through the medium of the
sense of smell. If the ant is covered
with dust the possibility Of its being
recognized is diminished to q extraordi-
nary degree. The antenae in partic-
ular must always be kept clean, for 1t is
only with their aid that the ant remains
in close communication with its tribe .,
1t is their highly developed sense of
cleanliness, the professor says; which also
explains the ants 50 funerals about
which so much has been written. Ants,
it Is well known, carry their dead to
definite burial places, where they arrange
them in most careful order. The little
creatures do not, however, do this with
the object Of providing their dead com
rades with a last resting place, DR.. Esch-
erich states: They merely obey the in
sti2ct Of cleanliness which impels them
10 remove all refuse from the nest and
carry II away to a definite spot.