eeting as the water in the brook; and Ideas, on the contrary, are
permanent, like its eddies: but the exhaustion of the water would also
do away with the eddies. We would have to stop at this unintelligible
view if nature were known to us only from without, thus were given us
merely _objectively_, and we accepted it as it is comprehended by
knowledge, and also as sprung from knowledge, i.e., in the sphere of the
idea, and were therefore obliged to confine ourselves to this province
in solving it. But the case is otherwise, and a glance at any rate is
afforded us into the _interior of nature_; inasmuch as this is nothing
else than _our own inner being_, which is precisely where nature,
arrived at the highest grade to which its striving could work itself up,
is now by the light of knowledge found directly in self-consciousness.
Thus the subjective here gives the key for the exposition of the
objective. In order to recognize, as something original and
unconditioned, that exceedingly strong tendency of all animals and men
to retain life and carry it on as long as possible--a tendency which was
set forth above as characteristic of the subjective, or of the will--it
is necessary to make clear to ourselves that this is by no means the
result of any objective _knowledge_ of the worth of life, but is
independent of all knowledge; or, in other words, that those beings
exhibit themselves, not as drawn from in front, but as impelled from
behind.

If with this intention we first of all review the interminable series of
animals, consider the infinite variety of their forms, as they exhibit
themselves always differently modified according to their element and
manner of life, and also ponder the inimitable ingenuity of their
structure and mechanism, which is carried out with equal perfection in
every individual; and finally, if we take into consideration the
incredible expenditure of strength, dexterity, prudence, and activity
which every animal has ceaselessly to make through its whole life; if,
approaching the matter more closely, we contemplate the untiring
diligence of wretched little ants, the marvellous and ingenious
industry of the bees, or observe how a single burying-beetle
(_Necrophorus vespillo_) buries a mole of forty times its own size in
two days in order to deposit its eggs in it and insure nourishment for
the future brood (Gleditsch, _Physik. Bot. Oekon. Abhandl._, III, 220),
at the same time calling to mind how the lif