Nothing did they do in the intervals but wander about
lazily, and bask in the sunshine at the doors of their barracks.
Huber made an experiment. He wanted to see what would be the
result if the great red ants found themselves without servants.
He put a few into a glass case, and put some honey for them in a
corner, so that they had nothing to do but take it. Miserable the
degradation, cruel the punishment with which slavery afflicts the
enslavers! They did not touch it; they seemed to know nothing;
they had become so grossly ignorant that they could no longer
feed themselves. Some of them died from starvation, with food
before them.
To complete the experiment, Huber then introduced into the case
one black ant. The presence of this sagacious slave changed the
face of things, and reestablished life and order. He went
straight to the honey, and fed the dying simpletons.
The little blacks in many things carry a moral authority whose
signs are very visible. They do not, for example, permit the
great red ants to go out alone on useless expeditions, but compel
them to return into the city.
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