Termite Societies and Human Society: A Comparison

TERMITE SOCIETIES AND HUMAN SOCIETY: A COMPARISON 464-60-3735; 713-76-25258; 77550* Mr. Joseph Wood Krutch, the well-known naturalist, recently wrote an essay called "Men, Apes and Termites" in which he praised man's society and disparaged that ofus termites. His statement forcibly reminds us ofGiordano Bruno's speech to the nine cardinals who, in 1600, with the support ofPope Clement VIII, condemned him to death for heresy. Just before he was burned alive, he said to them: "Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it." Mr. Krutch also writes, along with Jerome Wolf, to that superb astronomer Tycho Brahe: "No attack on society is more dangerous than the concept ofthe infinite size and depth ofthe heavens." And finally Mr. Krutchjoins the Bishop of Oxford and other clerics in attacking Darwin for the ideas set forth in Origin ofSpecies. Our readers will recall that its publication aroused their bitter opposition on the ground that it placed manjust about equal to the higher apes and that such a concept was absolutely unthinkable. Man, it was argued, is obviously the darling ofthe gods and to compare him with a filthy, chattering monkey was obviously the height of nonsense . "Is your grandfather an ape?" they asked Thomas Huxley, anticipating that they would crush him with derision. Mr. Krutch poses the same question to 1965 Homo sapiens: "Is our so- * Theauthors ofthis paper comprise the Committee on History ofa modest termitarium (Kalotermes snyderi Light) which lives in the front steps ofthe residence ofH. G. Swann at 2528 Avenue O, Galveston, Texas. They happened to devour the Saturday Review for September 21, 1963, in which Joseph Wood Krutch wrote an article critical oftermite societies. The article so infuriated them that, Texans as they were, they decided to correct it—and to correct similar libels about termites which have been appearing for decades. The Committee, aided by our whole colony, redigested Will Durant's The Story ofCivilization while writing this paper. They havelifted bodily many ofhis golden summarizing phrases about man's conduct throughout his history; these are identified by volume and page number—e.g., WD, II, 50. Mr. Swann graciously permitted the Committee to use, for purposes ofidentification, his Social Security, telephone, and zip code numbers. 559 ciety," he asks, "really to be compared with termite society?" and then he adopts with utter arrogance and painful naïveté, the position that man's society is such a splendid creation that it cannot possibly suffer such a comparison . Here he joins the modern Bishops of Oxford and their spiritual brothers, the psychiatrists. His position is by no means a new one. As soon as human entomologists first began to understand our insect societies, they became aware of our marvellous complexity and magnificent organization . Of the termites' civilization, Maurice Maeterlinck wrote: "[It] is superior to that ofthe bee, ofthe ant, and even ofman himself." But we sin by omission in this quotation (a common human trick), for even with him the disparagement sets in. The full quotation has two sentences: "The civilization, which is the earliest ofany, is the most curious, most complex, the most intelligent and, in a sense, the most logical and best fitted to the difficulties of existence which has ever appeared before our own on the globe. From several points ofview, this civilization, although fierce, sinister and often repulsive, is superior to that ofthe bee, ofthe ant, and even of man himself." And again, hypnotized with the arrogance ofmen like the Oxford bishops, Maeterlinck wrote: "Something in the insect seems to be alien to the habits, morals, and psychology ofthis world, as ifit has come from some other planet, more monstrous, more energetic, more insensate , more atrocious, more infernal than our own." The Committee on History feels outraged by statements like this. Read, Mr. Maeterlinck, and read, Mr. Krutch, our last paragraph concerning the alien civilization ofHomo sapiens on this fair planet. In an attempt to obtain some understanding between man and ourselves, we termites have had occasion before to communicate directly with man. In 1920 our distinguished cousin His Majesty the 43rd Neotenic King of the 8429th Dynasty in an African...