Plants exist _in_ themselves. Insects _by_, or by means of, themselves.
Men, _for_ themselves. The perfection of irrational animals is that which
is best for _them_; the perfection of man is that which is absolutely best.
There is growth only in plants; but there is irritability, or, a better
word, instinctivity, in insects.
* * * * *
You may understand by _insect_, life in sections--diffused generally over
all the parts.
* * * * *
The dog alone, of all brute animals, has a [*Greek: storgae], or affection
_upwards_ to man.
* * * * *
The ant and the bee are, I think, much nearer man in the understanding or
faculty of adapting means to proximate ends than the elephant.[1]
[Footnote 1:
I remember Mr. C. was accustomed to consider the ant, as the most
intellectual, and the dog as the most affectionate, of the irrational
creatures, so far as our present acquaintance with the facts of natural
history enables us to judge.--ED.]
_May_ 3. 1830.