“505. THE ANTS—PROVERBS 6:6-8; 30:25”
The Ants—Pro_6:6-8; Pro_30:25
In a remarkable passage of this book, Solomon refers the sluggard to the ant for an example of prudence and industry: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” The wise Agur, the son of Jakeh, also, speaking of four things “that are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise,” tells us, that although “the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.”
These texts have been thought to be in conformity with, and to give their sanction to, the popular opinion respecting the ant, which is indeed old, and frequently cited by ancient writers. That is, that these insects lay up corn against the winter, depositing it in suitable cells or storehouses, which the wet cannot easily reach; and that, as a further measure of precaution, they destroy the vegetative powers of the corn by nipping off the end of every grain. This is so interesting—is so pleasant a belief, that one will scarcely regard with goodwill those who attempt to overturn our faith in it. Yet the alleged facts have of late years been much questioned by naturalists. We are assured that ants do not store away any food against the winter, for the sufficient reason that they do not need it, as during that season they become torpid; that the corn which they are sometimes seen to carry, is used by them for building materials, for which purpose almost any substance which is near their homes, and conveniently portable, is made to serve their turn. Ay, but have we not seen them bring out the grains of corn, somewhat swollen by damp, to dry in the sun? No; these seeming grains of corn are their own eggs.
All this is doubtless true. how, then, are we to reconcile it with the assertion of Solomon? The task is less difficult than it seems. In the first place, it is not clear that his words have been rightly understood, or that they do afford the alleged sanction to the popular opinion thus affirmed to be erroneous. Ants do not lay up grain for food. Well: Solomon does not say that they do; there is not a word about grain in his statement. Again, ants do not store up food for winter. Neither, again, does Solomon say this; there is nothing concerning winter in his words. It may be, therefore, that the common opinion has been carelessly and uncritically fastened upon his words, against his consent. Attentively read, what he does say is, that the ant, with considerable prudence and forethought, prepares her bread and gathers her food—that is, such food as is suited to her, in the proper seasons, in summer and harvest, when it is most plentiful; and thus shows a wisdom and prudence worthy of imitation, in making the best and most timely use of the advantages offered to her.
But, even taking the words of Solomon and Agur in the sense commonly understood, why might they not refer to the common opinion respecting any creature, when it afforded the moral lesson which they desired to inculcate? The sacred writers generally regard it as no part of their duty to set right all the popular notions of common things, but use them, as poets and moralists have done in all ages, to enforce their teachings and illustrate their arguments.
But still further, and once more supposing that this is the meaning of Solomon, it cannot be safely affirmed that his words, as understood, are not true. The observation of the naturalist is founded upon the habits of these insects in our own latitudes—the habits of ants in other countries, where the same conditions do not exist, may be, and probably are, different; and until we possess more exact information respecting the habits of exotic ants, it would be very rash to affirm that they do not make any stores of provisions. Although, during the cold of our winter, they remain in a state of torpidity, and have no need of food; yet we have no reason to suppose that, in warmer climates, they, or indeed any other creatures, become torpid during winter. The cold which brings them into that condition with us, does not there exist; yet, as during the rainy season they will be prevented from seeking their food abroad, an apparent necessity exists for their laying up some stores of food against that season, and this their nature and habits well enable them to do. Even in our northern climates, it is thought that they may, and do, against wet season, provide in this way for their sustenance and that of their young brood, which are exceedingly voracious, and cannot bear to be long deprived of their food. Else, why do ants carry worms, living insects, and many such things, to their nests? Solomon’s assertion, therefore, even taken in the broadest significance, can only be regarded as referring to the species of a different and warmer climate, in respect to which, the statement may be perfectly correct, while inapplicable to the indigenous ants of our own colder clime.
We thus find that the present proverb is not really committed to any of the opinions which have been disputed; and that, even were it so, in that single point to which it has seemed more particularly to tend, it may still be a fact, and not merely an allowable accommodation to popular notions, in a matter wherein no essential interest is involved.
It is noteworthy that the opinion of the ant storing its food (not corn in particular), seems to have come from the East, and from thence we have no information that disproves it. There it still prevails, and in Egypt it is preserved in the proverb (quoted by Burckhardt), “What the ant collects in the course of a whole year, the monk eats up in one night.”
Solomon’s recommendation to “consider the ways” of the ant, seems, however, to have had a larger reference than to the mere question before us. He, who knew these things so well, must have been aware that there was much in the habits and manners of this creature, which would richly reward attentive consideration, by revealing to us the wisdom of God, as manifested in even the least of his creatures, and by furnishing important lessons, which the humbleness of the teacher should not lead us to despise, but to value all the more. The researches of Rèaumur, Huber, Kirby, Spence, and other naturalists, into the habits and pursuits of these wonderful little creatures, enable us, much better than was possible formerly, to appreciate the fitness of the wise king’s recommendation, whether taken in regard to the industry, the skill, or the economy, which their communities exhibit.
The skill, industry, and labor, with which, for instance, the domiciles of the different kinds of ants are constructed, are in all respects admirable; and when regarded in relation to the dimensions and resources of the tiny architects, far exceed many of those greatest results of human ingenuity and labor, by which the world has in successive ages been astonished. Whether as masons, carpenters, or carvers of wood, they offer examples which the most ingenious of men cannot refuse to admire, and by which the wisest of men may be instructed. Among the different kinds of ants, such constructions are various, and there are none undeserving attention.
Wood Excavated by Ants
The mason-ant offers to our contemplation its earthen hillocks, the interior of which consists of a labyrinth of lodges, vaults, and galleries, skilful in its construction, and its situation chosen with judgment. Such nests are sometimes constructed with twenty stories above, and as many below the ground, by which means the ants are easily enabled to regulate the temperature of their abode, withdrawing (as we have often done ourselves) to the underground apartments, when these above become too warm, and proceeding upwards when the lower rooms become too cold. With no less skill, and perhaps with greater labor, do the carpenter-ants chisel their stories, chambers, galleries, and colonnades, in the bodies or roots of growing trees. Then other species construct their nests upon or among the branches of trees—nests various in their kinds and dimensions, but all wonderful examples of the results obtainable by the skill and industry of co-operating numbers, even among creatures so small that myriads may be crushed unregarded beneath the careless foot. Some of these nests are as large as hogsheads, others of from the size of a human head to that of a fist—the latter being formed by the powerful bending of large leaves, and the gluing of the parts together, so as to form a sort of purse.
Nests of the White Ant
But all this is as nothing to what we behold, when we look at the buildings constructed by the white ants of tropical climes. Their industry appears greatly to surpass that of our own ants and bees, and they are certainly more skilful in architectural contrivances. The elevation, also, of their edifices is more than 500 times the height of the builders; so that, were our own houses built according to the same proportions, they would be twelve or fourteen times higher than the London Monument, and four or five times higher than the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, with corresponding dimensions in the basement of the edifice. These nests are often twelve feet high, and have sometimes been seen as high as twenty feet, and large enough to contain twelve men. They consist of an exterior shell, containing an interior apartment, in which are formed a vast number of chambers, galleries, and magazines. In the same regions, the smaller white ant rears up its house in the form of a pillar with art overhanging dome, presenting, as a whole, but on a greatly enlarged scale, the appearance of a species of mushroom, which one may often find in the woods.
Mushroom-shaped Ant Hills
These constructions are about three feet high, and the interior is divided into numerous angular cells, which furnish lodgings for the industrious little beings that rear up this curious monument.
Besides all this, there is much in the internal economy and management of these insects not less worthy of admiration. Their unwearied industry and indomitable perseverance; the arduous and sincere exertions of every individual for the common welfare; their well-regulated labor; the salacious judgment with which they avail themselves of favoring circumstances; and the striking evidence, which even these minute creatures are enabled to furnish, of the important and great results which may be produced by the co-operation of large numbers in good and useful objects, are all incentives which strongly enforce and illustrate the injunction of the wisest of kings—“Go to the ant; … consider her ways.”
Autor: JOHN KITTO