ck further than Christianity to guess the meaning of
these distinctions. Among the ancient races of Asia, where the Jewish
faith arose, there were strange and sinister beliefs about insects--old
Assyrian superstitions, old Babylonian beliefs. Insects seemed to those
early peoples very mysterious creatures (which they really are); and it
appears to have been thought that they had a close relation to the world
of demons and evil spirits. I suppose you know that the name of one of
their gods, Beelzebub, signifies the Lord of Flies. The Jews, as is shown
by their Talmudic literature, inherited some of these ideas; and it is
quite probable that they were passed on to the days of Christianity.
Again, in the early times of Christianity in Northern Africa the Church
had to fight against superstitions of an equally strange sort derived from
old Egyptian beliefs. Among the Egyptians, certain insects were sacred and
became symbols of divinity,--such as the beetle. Now I imagine that for
these reasons the subject of insects became at an early time a subject
which Christianity thought dangerous, and that thereafter a kind of
hostile opinion prevailed regarding any literature upon this topic.

However, to-day things are very different. With the development of
scientific studies--especially of microscopic study--it has been found
that insects, far from being the lowliest of creatures, are the most
highly organized of all beings; that their special senses are incomparably
superior to our own; and that in natural history, from the evolutional
standpoint, they have to be given first place. This of course renders it
impossible any longer to consider the insect as a trifling subject.
Moreover, the new philosophy is teaching the thinking classes in all
Western countries the great truth of the unity of life. With the
recognition of such unity, an insect must interest the philosophers--even
the man of ordinary culture--quite as much as the bird or any other
animal.

Nearly all the poems which I have quoted to you have been poems of very
modern date--from which we may infer that interest in the subject of
insects has been developing of late years only. In this connection it is
interesting to note that a very religious poet, Whittier, gave us in the
last days of his life a poem upon ants. This would have seemed strange
enough in a former age; it does not seem strange to-day, and it is
beautiful. The subject is taken from old Jewish literature.