EDUG. LIBRARf I / 7 S 'A/ ^ T^ ESSAY ON INSTINCT, AND ITS PHYSICAL AND MORAL RELATIONS. By THOMAS HANCOCK, M.D. For Reason raise o'er Instinct, as you can} In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man. Pope. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds: therefore let him season- ably water the one, and destroy the other. Bacon. HonDon: TAINTED AND PUBLISHED UY WILLIAM PHILLIPS, GEORGE VARl) LOMBARD STREET; SOLD ALSO BV HATCHARD AXD SOX, PICCADILLY; AND BY W. & C. TAIT, EDINBURGH. J82L • I ip /y.3 EDUC. PSYCH. LIBRARY PREFACE. A concise view of the following argument was communicated, about two years since, to a Literary Society. Whether it appeared novel, or the subject was in itself interesting, a request was soon after conveyed to me, that it might be given to the public. In considering the subject, it was obvious, that it not only admitted of copious illustrations, but that it involved many abstract discussions more adapted to the closet than to the Lecture-room , Accordingly, some of my leisure has since been employed in making such an arrangement of facts, illustrations, and reasonings, as, I am in- duced to think, will present a more clear and consistent view than was contained in the ori- ginal discourses. I am, notwithstanding, fully aware, that, in its present state, it is not with- out many imperfections ; and yet they appear iv Preface. to be such, as it is scarcely in my power to remedy. To do justice to an argument of this nature, I need not say, that the most patient thought and undivided attention would be necessary. But the time of professional men, whilst engaged in public duties, in this city, is seldom at their own command : or if any portion be at their command, it is that which the wearied mind claims for its repose rather than for active thought. The con- sequence has been, that I have had many in- terruptions to any regular plan of study. So that, instead of being able to follow up some of my reasonings closely and methodically, I have often had to lament that they were broken ; and subsequently, found it no easy task to resume them. Being, also, under the necessity of seizing opportunities, as they offered, and of writing, often, in a hurried and desultory man- ner, I fear that I have been led occasionally into some repetitions. Hence, it is possible, that arguments may have been left incomplete, and the same thing may have been expressed over again in different terms. However this may be, when an author comes before the public, urged by whatever motive, he must naturally expect, that his work will be esti- Preface. v mated according to what it is, and not accord- ing to contingencies, which might have tended to make it more or less perfect. In so far as illustrations from Natural His- tory were necessary to my purpose,, I have not scrupled to avail myself freely of the scientific labours of others — I trust, however, with pro- per acknowledgments. And, though I con- sider the speculations in the First Part as but secondary and introductory to those in the Second, I am aware, that there is a class of readers who will give them the preference. I have therefore studied to make the former more interesting to this class, by a greater number of quotations than I should have other- wise thought necessary. One object it has been my study to pursue, and that is, the inculcation in the minds of my younger friends, (to whom principally the out- line was addressed) of, what I consider, right opinions, or at least, such opinions as agree with the fundamental principles of Revealed Religion. And as an inquiry of this nature could not well be prosecuted without some- thing of what is called metaphysical discussion, wherever I have had occasion to tread upon this uncertain ground, I have endeavoured to vi Preface. clear my path by using phrases easily under- stood, and avoiding questions too intricate, and subtleties too refined. As I do not wish to anticipate any of my conclusions, I forbear to enter into a general view of the principles it is my object to sup- port : For believing the subject to be con- nected in a chain of reasoning, however loosely in some parts, I have the less reluctance in re- questing my reader to follow it, with what pa- tience he may be able to exercise, to the end. I do not flatter myself that the view I have taken is original ; yet I think it, on the whole, important. Neither do I flatter myself, that the inferences I have drawn will be generally re- ceived ; though I believe them to be founded in Truth. For, some of them seem to be op- posed to great authorities; but I have satis- faction in thinking that they are not opposed to the greater authority of Scripture. In re- ference therefore to the authors with whom I differ — and I am not alone in differing from them — I can feelingly apply the often quoted saying, — Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas. TABLE OP CONTENTS, -*+*- PART I. OF THE PHYSICAL RELATIONS OF INSTINCT. PAGE Introductory Remarks ^ 1 CHAP. I. General view of different writers opi- nions ON THE SUBJECT : THE ARRANGE- MENT proposed. Instinct contrasted with Reason 7 Sect 1. General view of different writers opi- nions^ Sfc ib. 2. Instinct contrasted with Reason 14 CHAP. II. Examples of Instinct in the works of animals, and the care of their young, and choice of food remarks on the adaptation of structure to climate, and of habit and disposition to struc- TURE 17 Sect. I. Examples of Instinct in the works of Animals and care of their i/ozcng . . . ib. 2. Of Instinct in Animals in their choice offood 23 viii Table of Contents. PAGE Sect. 3. Of the adaptation of structure to cli- mate 27 4. Adaptation of Habit and Disposition to structure, S?c 32 CHAP. III. Of the Instincts in Man 40 CHAP. IV. OF CERTAIN ACTIONS IN THE LOWER ANIMALS, in some degree distinguishable from the operation of Instinct 52 Sect. I. Of the effects of Human Intercourse on the lower Animals ib. 2. Of the perfection of the natural Senses, as distinguishable from Instinct .... 63 3. Of the migrations of Animals 70 4. Of the power of Reasoning in Animals 77 CHAP. V. Of the accommodating power of Instinct, and inferences from the facts 102 CHAP. VI. Of the ascending scale of Instinctive or Unconscious Motions — comprising in- animate, vegetable, and animal mo- tions 112 Sect. 1. Of inanimate and vegetable motions. . . ib. 2. Of animal motions 123 3. Of the connected chain of functions in vegetable, muscular, and nervous systems 131 CHAP. TIL On the Zoological Lectures of Wm. Lawrence, F.R.S 143 Table of Contents. ix CHAP. VIIL page Recapitulation — the perfection of In- stinct IN ITS PHYSICAL OPERATIONS, AND THE IMPERFECTION OF HUMAN REASON. . . . 162 Sect. 1. Recapitulation ib* 2. Perfection of Instinct 1 68 3. Imperfection of Reason 173 CHAP. IX. Of Reason, and the extremes of opinion respecting it its extent or uses, and limitation or insufficiency 177 Sect. 1. Of Reason* and the extremes of opinion respecting it ib. 2. Uses of Reason 180 3. Limitation of Reason 182 PART II. OF THE MORAL RELATIONS OF INSTINCT. CHAP. I. Of the opinions of Philosophers on the subject of a dlvlne intelligence in the Human Mind 199 Sect. 1. Authorities in support of the view now taken ib. 2. Of the testimonies in favour of such a principle analogous to Instinct and superior to Reason 205 3. On the enlarged use of the word Reason 211 x Table of Contents. CHAP. II. PAGE Of the nature of the Mental Faculties, and the primary elements of reason- ING and Moral Feeling 228 Sect. 1. Of the nature of the Mental Faculties, ib. 2. Of the 'primary elements of Reasoning 235 3. Of the primary elements of Moral Feel' ing 244 CHAP. III. On the System of Locke 256 CHAP. IV. Of the analogy between Mental Prin- ciples and Seeds, and between Educa- tion and Culture 277 Sect. 1. Of the analogy between Mental Prin- ciples and Seeds ib, 2. Of the office and effect of Education compared with Culture 290 3. Illustrations of the same subject 295 CHAP. V. Of First Principles and Innate Ideas . . . 311 CHAP. VI. Of the Seeds of Vice and Virtue, and of Benevolence and Self-love 333 Sect. 1. Of the Seeds of Vice ib. 2. Of the Seed of Virtue 339 3. Of Benevolence and Self-Love 359 CHAP. VII. Of Conscience and its significations — including remarks on the reasonings of Locke on Innate Moral Principles 364 Sect. 1 . Of its comprehensive signification ib. 2. Of its limited signification 376 Table of Contents, xl PAGE Sect. 3. On the reasonings of Locke on Innate Moral Principles 383 4. Conscience always includes the notion of a Moral Principle 3S6 CHAP. VIII. Of the true source of Moral Sentiments, and of the various opinions respecting A Moral Principle 407 Sect. 1. Of Moral Feeling, the source of Truth ib. 2. Moral Truth is not unfolded with uni- versal clearness 415 3. Of the Diversity of Religious Notions among mankind 419 4. Illustrations of the foregoing reasonings 429 5. Of the various opinions concerning the nature of the Moral Principle 441 CHAP. IX. Of the Divine Spirit in the Soul ....... 450 Sect. 1. Introductory remarks ib. 2. Of the Seed of Divine Truth 453 3. Of its cultivation 461 4. This influence is not under human con- troul 472 5. Of Wisdom, Divine and Human, Faith, Enthusiasm, Revelation .... 479 6. OfChrist 531 PART I. OF THE PHYSICAL RELATIONS OF INSTINCT. Published by the same Author, and sold by TV. Phillips, George-yard, Lombard-street, Price Ss. boards, RESEARCHES INTO THE LAWS AND PHENOMENA OF PESTILENCE . 5 INCLUDING A MEDICAL SKETCH AND REVIEW OF THE PLAGUE OF LONDON, IN 1665 ; AND REMARKS ON QUARANTINE. With an Appendix ; containing Extracts and Observations relative to the Plagues of Morocco, Malta, Noya, and Corfu; being the subject of the Anniversary Oration, delivered before the Medical Society of London, in the Spring of 1820, and published at their request. By THOMAS HANCOCK, M.D. Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and Physician to the City and Finsbury Dispensaries. *' To the volume of Dr. Hancock we are desirous of calling especial notice, not with a view to invidious comparison, but as being a com- prehensive and candid investigation of the whole question" 44 Upon the whole we may confidently assert that it has not often fallen to our lot to inspect the production of a controversial author so free and fearless in its admissions, or so candid and temperate in its conclusions. Dr. Hancock has brought forward a vast body of testimony of the most unequivocal kind, illustrative of the proposition, that the origin, spread, and decline of pestilence, has for the most part, more reference to the local peculiarities of the soil and climate in which it appears, than to any foreign importation ; and that plague, if it be sometimes a con- tagious and transportable, is for the most part an indigenous or endemic distemper." — Quarterly Review ■. *' We have perused Dr. Hancock's work, and we accord to him the meed of applause for candour, zeal, research, and ingenuity It is a very able and elaborate critical examination of the principal writings which have appeared at different times on the subject of Epidemic and Pestilential diseases ; and we have no hesitation in saying, that its perusal will be very advantageous, in as much as it [will help to pre- pare the way for more correct views and settled opinions on those im- portant and much disputed points Distrusting our own powers we put this volume into the hands of three friends successively; all of them interested in the discussion. They all returned the work with this observation — that it contained a great deal of interesting research and legitimate deductions, but that no analysis could give a fair or satisfac- tory view either of the data or inferences." — Medico-Chirurgical Review. " Dr. Hancock has lately supplied the chasm (respecting the manner in which Epidemics are propagated) by a very able critical examination of the principal writers which have appeared at different times on the subject of Epidemic, and Pestilential Diseases, and to this work we beg to direct the reader's attention." — Sec Medical Jurisprudence, by J. A. Paris, M.D. and J. S. M. Fonblanque, Bar. at Law. " We have never, in truth, risen from the perusal of any treatise on a controversial subject, with such a thorough feeling of satisfaction, as that which has been occasioned by Dr. Hancock's book. It is, beyond all measure, the best book on the subject of which it treats that it has la Hen to our lot to examine." — Medical Repository. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Man is especially distinguished from the lower animals by the consciousness of a Supreme Ruler of the world, and by the dominion he is enabled to exer- cise over the earth and its productions. He is distin- guished also by the restless and insatiable desire of knowledge, the capacity to attain it, and the power to perpetuate it from one generation to another. But, notwithstanding so wide a barrier separates him from the brute, yet the national and intellectual varieties among mankind are so great as, on a superfi- cial view, almost to constitute specific distinctions ; and to establish as near an affinity, in point of intelli- gence, between the lowest of these and the most sa- gacious brute, as between the most enlightened and ignorant of the human family. As one man differs so widely from another, we may also distinguish the wise man from the simple by the consistency of his conduct, and by the use he is accustomed to make of his ac- quired knowledge. Now, the departments of human knowledge are va- rious like the motives which actuate different persons in the pursuit. Some individuals have a natural in- A 2 Introductory Remarks. clination to one subject of inquiry, and some to another. Some seek after knowledge for gain ; some for estimation in the world ; some from a restless and unprofitable spirit of curiosity without limit, and almost without object ; some that they may become expert in disputation ; some from pride and ostenta- tion ; few, as is well observed by Lord Bacon, that they may employ the gift of reason for the benefit of the human family, and for the glory of Him who gave it. " As if," adds the same illustrious author, in that strong and figurative language for which his writings are so remarkable, adapting his metaphor to the different motives and characters of men — " as if there was sought in knowledge a couch whereon to rest a searching and restless spirit ; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect ; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon ; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and contention ; or a shop for profit and sale ; and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man's estate."* But, as knowledge is thus various, and may be re- ceived into minds so variously constituted and affected ; how important is it that we duly consider the objects of intellectual improvement we may individually pro- pose to ourselves, and the motives by which we are actuated in the search ! We may admit the saying of Locke, that " this life is a scene of vanity," and perhaps may bring our- * Advancement of Learning, book, i. Introductory Remarks. 3 selves to comprehend the acknowledgment of Grotius, one of the most illustrious scholars of his age, and a man of exemplary piety, that "he had consumed much of his life in laboriously doing nothing." — We may have dipped so far into philosophy as to be persuaded of this truth, that the greatest attainments in natural knowledge are immeasureably insignificant, when compared with the proper business of life ; and unspeakably vain, when inflating the proud mind to search into the counsels of omniscience. — We may have been instructed, also, by the experience of the wisest and best, how little, after all our inquiries, can be known. Yet the advances which have been made in the sciences, strictly so called, viewed abstractedly as evidences of the unassisted powers of Man, of his superiority to the Brute, and his relation to some higher sphere of existence, while they ennoble human genius, urge us to lament its misapplication. But even in the sciences, (where demonstration, as in Mathematics, and analysis and synthesis, as in Chemistry, prove the proposition and the law,) we must still come to something which is not revealed, — some link in the chain of natural causes, where the philosophic inquirer must rest, and infer an agency* whose mode of working is unknown. When Sir Isaac Newton had discovered that it was by the law of gravitation the planetary motions were to be explained, he doubtless saw it would be a vain speculation to inquire in what manner this gravitating principle or law acted; whether by an electrical a2 4 Introductory Remarks, aather, or impalpable aerial fluid, or by some other subtile medium. And, in the same way, we may reasonably conclude that it will ever be fruitless to inquire whether, in the human body, a nervous fluid or a mere vibration conveys the impulse of the will to the voluntary muscles, or the impression of the senses to the brain. The profoundest researches of the physiologist cannot explain how a man performs the simple act of raising his arm, nor how the eye and ear transmit their respective sensations to the mind. In every department of human knowledge, there- fore, there is a point where inquiry must rest; and where it becomes the true philosopher to contemplate in awful humility the wonders of Almighty Power, adoring in silent reverence that infinite wisdom, which has only unlocked, as it were, to man, the ves- tibule of the great Temple, that contains thousands of Nature's secrets yet unopened, and thousands more, perhaps, never to be revealed. Now, in this view, it must be considered highly incumbent upon all, who prosecute physical or moral inquiries, to direct them in the plain and simple path of observation, which may lead to profitable results ; and equally incumbent to avoid the giddy heights of speculation, where the mind is too much disposed to look down upon the laborious inquirer, and to in- dulge in vain conceits of superior intelligence. For, hence arise the evils of a wild untutored imagination, — that roving faculty of the mind, which is to be found Introductory Remarks. 5 any where but at home. It is ready to grasp at the notions of others, calling them its own ; and to grasp at its own phantoms, calling them realities. How necessary that it should be bridled, and brought within the limits of sober and legitimate investi- gation ! We may take it for granted, that knowledge, which is so readily gleaned from others, does not properly constitute mental improvement. The cul- tivation of the mind, in order that it may bring forth good fruit, requires a steady persevering labour. It is true, indeed, that some soils, from a kind of native luxuriance, produce abundantly, with but little out- ward aid ; but, in these as much labour is often re- quired to check an extravagant growth, and to root up the weed, as in ground which is less fertile, to manure and water in its season. Knowledge must be conveyed to the mind, as food to the body, if it be intended for profit, by healthy digestion and assimilation of the materials to our actual substance. It is by reflection and meditation upon the truths afforded by others, that we make them our own ; and this observation applies to our moral and religious, as it does to our intellectual, advance- ment. Hence it is that the man who can boast little else than a capacious memory, though his mind may be stored with the records of past ages, is often ex- tremely deficient in the faculty of Reason, and in common discretion, when placed in the embarrassing concerns of life : while he who may want this prompt 6 Introductory Remarks. recollection of the past, but is notwithstanding* pos- sessed of a sound discriminating judgment, and can recur in every emergency to a counsellor placed in his own bosom, — who troubles himself little in con- sidering how others would act in similar circum- stances, will frequently extricate himself from diffi- culties, by which the other would be overwhelmed. So much, therefore, does it behove every one to labour for his own supplies, whether physical or moral; and so great is the distinction between that which is received from without, and that which is produced within, — between the observations of others and our own, — between that which makes the heart better, and that which only fills the head, — in a word, between wisdom and knowledge. Cowper has very accurately marked the distinction. u Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men, Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, The mere material with which Wisdom builds, 'Till smooth'd and squared and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich : Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much, Wisdom is humble that he knows no more." Task, Book 6. CHAPTER I. GENERAL VIEW OF DIFFERENT WRITERS OPINIONS ON THE SUBJECT : THE ARRANGE- MENT PROPOSED. INSTINCT CONTRASTED WITH REASON. Sect. I. General view of different Writers opinions on the Sub- ject : the Arrangement proposed. In surveying the diversified classes of phenomena, which are presented to the view in the wide field of Natural History, none appear more interesting than the acts of the Brute creation. It is natural therefore to compare these acts, which have generally been supposed to result from a peculiar principle, named Instinct, with the operations of Human Reason. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that very con- fused notions exist upon this subject, not only in the works of the learned, but in the minds of the multi- tude; some referring the actions of the Brute exclu- sively to Instinct, and the actions of Man exclusively to Reason ; some considering the boundaries of these principles perfectly distinct, yet too nice to be ascer- tained ; and others, of no mean authority, asserting, that there is no difference between them, — one set 8 General view of the Subject, of writers classing Reason among the Instincts, and another set maintaining that every act of the lower animals is an act of Reason, such, in kind, as it is exhibited in Man. Now, we may observe, that ob- scurity, in a greater or less degree, has been cast over every subject, when men have stepped beyond the proper business of philosophy in explaining causes or hidden operations, and establishing spe- cific distinctions often depending on words, instead of classifying or arranging facts. Without pretend- ing that I shall be able to throw any new light upon so intricate a subject, in which, it is obvious, there is a great deal that is never likely to be understood ; I shall endeavour to distinguish and classify the phenomena in question, according to the most im- partial view I may be qualified to take, and the best means of information within ray reach. The arrangement, therefore, which I propose to myself in the elucidation of the subject, will comprise the following considerations : viz. 1st. How far Rea- son appears to differ from Instinct. 2ndly. How far the actions of some Brutes may be entitled to the appellation of Reasoning. And 3rdly, how far the perfect Instinct of the lower animals bears an analogy to that most exalted principle in Man, by which we are taught to believe, that his nature is capable of being dignified. I shall, therefore, bring forward some facts and illustrations from Natural History, in order to show, that there is a power which operates in the physical economy of brute animals Arrangement proposed. 9 with consummate wisdom ; not only adapting the structure to their peculiar habits, and to the climate, element, and situation in which they are designed to live; but directing them with wonderful precision in the choice of food, and in the care and preserva- tion of their offspring, by many complicated la- bours. I shall endeavour to point out the difference in effect, between this power and the variable and inconstant operations of human Reason ; and shall consider the evidence we have of Reasoning in the lower animals, and of Instinct in Man. In looking downwards from man, and surveying what may be called his physical relation to the in- ferior works of creation, I shall notice the analogy that appears to subsist between the operations of instinct, and the laws of brute and organized matter, exhibited in gravitation and in the unconscious motions of vegetable and animal life. We shall thus have grounds for considering, how far man seems to an- swer the end and design of his existence, as a rational being, compared with the inferior orders of animated nature, which are accounted irrational or governed by instinct. But in looking upwards from man, and surveying his higher and moral, or, as they may be termed, his spiritual relations, we shall consider, if Reason is so inadequate to procure the present happiness of man, and preserve order and harmony in the world, what means and power it possesses to procure an intimate knowledge of the Creator, and the final reward of 10 Arrangement proposed, eternal happiness. If it should indeed be found to be insufficient, it might be fair to inquire what principle it is, by whose operation and influence man is brought to a nearer acquaintance with his Maker, instructed in his duties, and enabled to perform them. For most of the facts I am to produce, relative to the instinct of animals, I shall be indebted to several writers on Natural History and Physiology. Des Cartes, with some other philosophers, imagined that all the actions of the lower animals might be explained by the simple laws of mechanism. Hence he considers them as machines wholly devoid of life and sentiment, like a clock or orrery, but so curious- ly constructed by the Creator, that the mere impres- sions of light, sound, and other external agents on their organs of sense, produced a series of motions in them, and caused them to execute those various operations which had before been ascribed to an internal principle of life. Buffon partly adopts the opinion of Des Cartes, but admits the brute animals to have life, and the faculty of distinguishing between pleasure and pain, together with a strong inclination to the one, and aversion to the other. By these inclinations and aver- sions he undertakes to account for all, even the most striking operations of animals. Other philosophers, as Helvetius and Darwin, have endeavoured to show that most of the actions of brutes were performed by a process of reasoning analogous to that in man.* * Rees Cyclop. Art. Instinct. Arrangement proposed. 11 In a new system of Natural History of Animals, published at Edinburgh in 1791, it is laid down that " the laws of analogical reasoning do not justify the opinion, that the brutes act, on any occasion, abso- lutely without design." And, on the other hand, it has been maintained by Smellie, in his Philosophy of Natural History ; " that between reason and in- stinct there is no difference, and that the reasoning faculty is itself the necessary result of instinct." Some have considered that a material structure, or simple arrangement of organs, endowed with the principle of life, or living organic structures possess- ing vital properties, give rise to all the phenomena of which we see the brutes to be capable; and that it is not necessary to have recourse to a principle which they affirm to be mysterious and inexplicable like that of Instinct : and others, as I before stated, in attempting to raise the dignity of human nature far above the brute, without giving themselves any trouble to analyse their respective actions, have thought to establish the grand distinction, by assign- ing exclusively to man the faculty of Reason, and ex- clusively to the brute, the blind or unerring principle of Instinct. We may perhaps find that all these philosophers have pushed their conclusions too far, by attempting to generalise too much ; and while we are almost compelled to smile at some of their notions, we cannot but believe that some of them erred in seeking to mark distinctions between the structure and nature of the 12 Arrangement proposed, human and the brute animal, without knowing much, if any thing, more, either of one or the other, than was to be learned by their respective actions. For, the principle in matter by which a stone falls to the ground, and the principle in mind, by which a living organized intelligent being thinks and acts, as in man, are equally unknown. Consequently, all the principles or modifications of action, between these extremes, in minerals, vegetables, insects, rep- tiles, fishes, birds and beasts, are entirely hidden from our keenest search. So that Gravitation, Cry- stallization, Vegetation, Irritability, Sensation, In- stinct, &c. are words used to denote certain effects, the causes of which we are ignorant. It is therefore vain to agitate metaphysical questions about diversi- ties or similitudes, which depend more upon our own words than upon any clear knowledge we can have of the things we define ; as, whether brutes differ from man in degree or in kind, whether there be an essential distinction between the rational and animal nature, and whether a being capable of sub- duing all, is only raised a single step above one or two of the higher 9pecies of brutes ; — inquiries better fitted for scholastic exercises, (about which much may be said, and but little can be known,) than for the improvement of knowledge. The observations of Smell ie on this point, though he has drawn conclusions on others which can scarcely be admitted, are worth our attention. " It cannot," says he, "escape observation that all Arrangement -proposed. 13 the sagacity and laborious industry exerted in the various instances of animal architecture, have one uniform tendency. They are all designed for the multiplication, protection, and nourishment of off- spring. But many of them are so artful, and require such persevering labour, that the human mind is be- wildered when it attempts to account for them. Recourse has been had by Des Cartes, Buffon, and other philosophers, to conformation of body and mechanical impulse. Their reasonings, however, though often ingenious, involve the subject in tenfold obscurity. We can hardly suppose that the animals actually foresee what is to happen, because, at first, they have not had even the aid of experience ; and particularly in some of the insect tribes the parents are dead, before the young are produced. Pure in- stincts of this kind, therefore, must be referred to another source. In a chain of reasoning: concerning; the operations of nature, such is the constitution of our minds, that we are under the necessity of resort- ing to an ultimate cause. What that cause is, it is the highest presumption in man to define. But, though we must for ever remain ignorant of the cause, we are enabled to trace, and even to under- stand, partially, some of the effects ; and from these effects we perceive the most consummate wisdom, the most elegant and perfect contrivances, to accomplish the multifarious and wonderful intentions of nature. In contemplating the operations of animals, from man down to the seemingly most contemptible insect, J 4 Justine t contrasted with Reason. we are necessarily compelled to refer them to pure instinct, or original qualities of mind, variegated by nature according as the necessities, preservation, and continuation of the different species require. Let any man try to proceed a step farther, and, however he may deceive himself, and flatter his own vanity, he must find at last that he is clouded in obscurity, and that men who have a more correct and unpreju- diced mode of thinking, will brand him with absur- dity, and acting in direct opposition to the constitution and frame of the human mind." * Sect. II. Instinct contrasted with Reason. On surveying the actions of Men and Brutes, there seem to be sufficient logical grounds for making two grand distinctions ; the one, comprising those actions which appear to be done blindly or without premedi- tation and without experience ; and the other, those which are done with forethought by combining means to accomplish ends, which are often the result of individual or social experience and instruction. These general facts seem to be so obvious, that they lead us at once to call them by different names, and to conclude that they arise from different pro- * See Philos. of Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 118. Instinct contrasted with Reason. 15 pensities or faculties : and the words Instinct and Reason come up as nearly to the view of the case as any others we could employ. Hence, while Reason acts with intelligence and design, (variably indeed and inconstantly,) profiting by experience, comparing motives, balancing probabilities, looking forward to the future and adapting itself to every change of cir- cumstance ; Instinct operates with uniformity in all individuals of the same species, and performs its office with unerring certainty, prior to all experience. It is proper for me here to remark, that the word Reason is used in senses which are extremely dif- ferent ; sometimes to express the whole of those powers which elevate man above the brutes, and constitute what is called his rational nature ; more especially, perhaps, his intellectual powers ; and sometimes to express the power of deduction or argu- mentation. The former is the sense in which the word is used in common discourse. It is in the latter restricted sense, as indeed is implied a little above, that I wish the word Reason to be understood, where- ever it occurs in this Essay, viz. the discursive facul- ty, wholly depending on outward evidence for its conclusions.* Hence, if there be any actions which are performed with every indication of design, fore- thought, and wisdom, which are not the result of instruction nor of individual experience, but of a power operating above the consciousness of the crea- ture, and directing it with unerring certainty to some * See Outlines of Moral Philosophy by Stewart, Sect. 9. 16 Instinct contrasted with Reason. specific ends by means far beyond its comprehension, whether in man or in the brute ; these actions are instinctive. And on the other hand, if there be any actions, which evidently result from observation and instruction, indicating an intelligent power of com- bining means and adapting them to ends of which the creature is conscious ; these actions come within the province of Reason. According to this view of the subject, we shall find, that Man himself, more especially the human infant, is not without his instincts ; which immedi- ately tend to the preservation of his existence, at times, when Reason, either from its tardy growth or want of promptitude, and general inefficiency, would be unable to superintend the different offices of the ani- mal economy, for which the former are appointed. CHAPTER II. EXAMPLES OF INSTINCT IN THE WORKS OF ANIMALS, AND THE CARE OF THEIR YOUNG; AND IN THEIR CHOICE OF FOOD.— REMARKS ON THE ADAPTATION OF STRUCTURE TO CLIMATE, AND ADAPTATION OF HABIT AND DISPOSITION TO STRUCTURE, &c. Sect. I. Examples of Instinct in the Works of Animals, and the Care of their Young, " The works of animals, says Dr. Reid, present us with a wonderful variety of instincts ; the nests of birds so similar in their situation and architecture in the same kind, so various in different kinds ; the webs of spiders; the ball of the silk worm; the nests of ants and other mining animals ; the combs of wasps, hornets, and bees ; the dams and houses of beavers. " But while every manufacturing art among men was invented by some man, improved by others, and brought to perfection by time and experience, and known only to those who have been taught them ; in 1 18 Of Instinct in Animals in the arts of animals no individual can claim the inven- tion. Every animal of the species has equal skill from the beginning, without teaching, without ex- perience or habit. Ever?/ one has its art by a kind of inspiration ; not that it is inspired with the principles or rules of the art, but with the ability and inclina- tion of working in it to perfection, without any know- ledge of its principles, rules, or end. /" The youngest pair of birds, it is known, without instruction or experience, build their first nest of the materials commonly used by their species ; in situa- tions too most secure and convenient for incubation and the rearing of their young."* This cannot be imitation ; for, as Addison says, " Though you hatch a crow under a hen, and never let it see any of the works of its own kind, the nest it makes shall be the same, to the laying of a stick, with all the other nests of the same species. It cannot be reason : for were animals endued with it to as great a degree as man, their buildings would be as different as ours, accord- ing to the different conveniencies that they would propose to themselves." + The work of every animal is, like the works of nature, perfect in its kind, and can bear the most critical examination of the mechanic or the mathema- tician. Let us take an example from the Bee. Dr. Reid further remarks, that "there are only three pos- sible figures of the cells which can make them all * Reid's Essays, vol. Hi. chap. 1. + Spectator, vol. ii. (heir &orks, and care of their Young. \9 equal and similar, without any useless interstices. These are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular hexagon. Mathematicians know that there is not a fourth way possible, in which a plane may be cut into little spaces that shall be equal, similar, and regular without useless spaces. Of the three figures, the hexagon is the most proper for eonveniency and strength. Bees, as if they knew this, make their cells regular hexagons." But the bottom of each cell rests upon the par- titions between the cells on the other side, which aerve as a buttress to strengthen it ; and this gives it all the strength possible. "Again, it has been demonstrated that, by making the bottoms of the cells to consist of three planes meeting in a point, there is a saving of material and labour no way inconsiderable. The bees, as if ac- quainted with these principles of solid geometry, follow them most accurately. It is a curious mathe- matical problem, at what precise angle (lie three planes which compose the bottom of a cell ought to meet, in order to make th6 greatest possible saving, or the least expense, of material and labour. This rs one of the problems which belong to the higher parts of mathematics. It has accordingly been resolved by some mathematicians, particularly by the ingeni- ous Maclaurin, by a fluxionary calculationj which is to be found in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London. He has determined precisely the angle required, and he found by the most exact mensuration b2 20 ,<*jv Of Instinct in Animals in the subject would admit, that it is the very angle in which the three planes in the bottom of the cell of a honey-comb do actually meet. 1 ' It has been therefore demonstrated, (as far as geo- metry and mathematics can show it,) that Bees build their cells in the strongest possible manner ; and with the least possible expense of labour and materials. And hence it is proved, that on the supposition that they act with a view to consequences, they are more skilled in geometry and mathematics, than the most philosophical and learned men, and that too from the earliest ages. " We must therefore conclude that, although the Bees act geometrically, yet they under- stand neither the rules nor the principles of the arts which they practise so skilfully; and that the geometry is not in the Bee, but in the great Geometrician who made the Bee, and made all things in number, weight, and measure." * Now when we see that animals, by Instinct, arrive at once to perfection in their art, while man is left to the exercise of his Reason, in other words, to his own skill and ingenuity, and very slowly attains to per- fection, we must conclude that the former are guided by a more perfect wisdom than the latter, at least in these outward concerns of life. In the second volume of the Spectator, Addison has taken a view somewhat similar, which illustrates not only the difference between Instinct and Reason, but the perfection of the former in its operations. nofc£«e Reid's Essay, ami Rces's Cyclopaedia, art. Instinct. their zeorks, and care oflhttr Young, 21 He observes, "Animals in their generation are wiser than the sons of men ; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow com- pass. Take a brute out of his instinct, and you find him wholly deprived of understanding. To use an instance that comes often under observation. " With what caution does the hen provide herself a nest in places unfrequented, and free from noise and disturbance ? When she has laid her eggs in such a manner as she can cover them, what care does she take in turning them frequently, that all parts may partake of the vital warmth ? When she leaves them to provide for her necessary sustenance, how punc- tually does she return before they have time to cool and become incapable of producing an animal? In the summer you see her giving herself greater free- doms, and quitting her care for above two hours together; but in winter, when the rigour of the sea- son would chill the principles of life, and destroy the young one, she grows more assiduous in her at- tendance, and stays away about half the time. When the birth approaches, with how much nicety and attention does she help the chick to break its prison ? not to take notice of her covering it from the injuries of the weather, providing it proper nourishment, and teaching it to help itself; nor to mention her for- saking the nest, if, after the usual time of reckoning the young one does not make its appearance. A chemical operation could not be followed with greater art or diligence than is seen in the hatching of a 2g Of Fasti-net in Animals in chick; though there are many other birds that show an infinitely greater sagacity in all the forementioned particulars. " But at the same time, the hen, that has all this seeming ingenuity, which is indeed absolutely neces- sary for the propagation of the species, considered in other respects, is without the least glimmerings of thought or common sense. She mistakes a piece of chalk for an egg y and sits upon it in the same manner; she is insensible of any increase or diminution in the, number of those she lays ; she does not distinguish between her own and those of another species; and when the birth appears of never so different a bird, will cherish it for her own. In all these circum- stances, which do not carry an immediate regard to the subsistence of herself or species, she is a very idiot." With reference to such examples of pure instinct, Addison says, that there is not, in his opinion, "any thing more mysterious in nature than this instinct in animals, which thu9 rises above reason, and falls infinitely short of it." And he seems to consider \\ cc the immediate direction of Providence, and such an operation of the Supreme Being, as that which deter- mines all the portions of matter to their proper cen- tre." A modern philosopher, quoted by Bayle in his learned Dissertation on the souls of Brutes, delivers the same opinion, though in a bolder form of words, where he says, c Deus est anima brutorum,' God himself is the soul of brutes." their Choice of Food, Sfc 93 " For my own part," he concludes, " I look upon Instinct as upon the principle of gravitation in bodies, which is not to be explained by any known qualities, inherent in the bodies themselves, nor from any laws of mechanism, but, according to the best notions of the greatest philosophers, is an immediate impression from the first Mover, and the divine energy acting in the creatures." * Sect. II. Of Instinct in Animals in their choice of Food. In a sketch like the present, it cannot but be inter- esting to the lover of truth, to see and compare toge- ther the opinions of different eminent writers, espe- cially when they coincide. I shall therefore have re- course to them as often and use them as freely, as may appear necessary ; because they will afford me, if not more solid, at least more satisfactory grounds, than my v own limited observations could do, for the subsequent reasonings which 1 shall build upon them. Hence I shall consider them as facts not only well attested, but as grave authorities to which I shall ap- peal, in drawing some conclusions that do not appear to have suggested themselves to the writers in ques- tion. * Spectator, vol. ii. No. 120. 24 Of Instinct in Animals in If we would take another view of the wonderful manner in which pure instinct operates, we may turn our attention to the choice which different animals make of plants for food, prior to all experience, — plants which are poisonous to other animals ; avoiding whatever is noxious or unwholesome to themselves. Smellie remarks that there is hardly a plant that is not rejected as food by some animals, and ardently desired by others. The horse yields the common water hemlock to the goat, and the cow the long- leafed water hemlock to the sheep. The goat, again, leaves the aconite, or wolf's bane, to the horse. The euphorbia, or spurge, so noxious to man, is greedily devoured by some of the insect tribes.* The Indian buceros feeds to excess on the colubrina, or nux vomica, used in this country as a poison for rats ; and the land crab on the berries of the hippomane, or manchineel tree. The leaves of the bread-leafed kal- mia are feasted upon by the deer, and the round- horned elk, but are mortally poisonous to sheep, to horned cattle, to horses, and to man. The bee ex- tracts honey without injury from the flower of this plant, but the man who partakes of that honey, after it is deposited in the hive-cells, falls a victim to his repast. In the autumn and winter of the year 1790, at Philadelphia, extensive mortality was occasioned among those who had eaten of the honey collected in the neighbourhood of that city, or had feasted on the common American pheasant, or pinnated grous, as * Smelliff, vol. i, p. 350. their choice of Food. 25 we call it. The attention of the American govern- ment was excited by the general distress ; a minute examination into the cause of the mortality ensued ; and it was satisfactorily shewn that the honey had been chiefly extracted from the flowers of the kalmia latifolia, and that the pheasants which had proved thus poisonous, had fed harmlessly on its leaves. The consequence was, that a public proclamation was issued, prohibiting the use of the pheasant as a food for that season.* Dampier, in his travels, tells us, that when seamen are thrown upon any of the unknown coasts of America, they never venture upon the fruit of any tree, how tempting soever it may appear, unless they observe that it is marked with the pecking of birds ; but fall on without any fear or apprehension where the birds have been before them.t But as what nourishes birds may be injurious to man, this cannot always be a safe guide. The following passage from St. Pierre conveys an interesting illustration of the same subject in his own animated style, and concludes with a simple and happy allusion to the varied working of that power, which is ever performing its wonders in the creation. " The sluggish cow pastures in the cavity of the valley ; the bounding sheep on the declivity of the hill ; the scrambling goat browses among the shrubs of the rock ; the duck feeds on the water plants of the river; the hen, with attentive eye, picks up every * Oration by Dr. Mason Good, p. 24. + Spectator, vol. ii. 26 Of the adaptation of structure to climate, fyc. grain that is lost in the field : the pigeon, on rapid wing, collects a similar tribute from the refuse of the gtove ; and the frugal bee turns to account even the small dust on the flower ; there is no part of the earth where the whole vegetable crop may not be reaped. Those plants which are rejected by one, are a deli- cacy to another; and even among the finny tribes contribute to their fatness. The hog devours the horse-tail and henbane ; the goat the thistle and the hemlock. All return in the evening to the habitation of man, with murmurs, with bleatings, with cries of joy, bringing back to him the delicious tribute of in- numerable plants, transformed by a process the most inconceivable, into honey, milk, butter, eggs, and Sect. III. Of the adaptation of Structure to Climate> Sfc. The nice adaptation of their instincts to the situa- tion in which different animals are placed, is itself a sign of superior wisdom and power, operating in them for their well-being. Thus the animals of the torrid zone, as the monkey, the elephant, and the rhinoceros, feed upon vegeta- bles that grow in hot countries, and therefore in these they have their allotted bounds. The rein-deer is fixed in the coldest part of Lapland, because its Of the adaptation of structure to climate, #c. 27 chief food is the lichen, or moss, which grows there more abundantly than in any other country. The camel frequents the sandy and burning deserts in order to feed on the dry camel's hay : and here in reference to this animal, we may exclaim — how won- derfully has the Creator contrived for him ! He is confined to the deserts, where oftentimes no water is to be found for many days. All other animals would perish with thirst, while the camel feels no inconve- nience ; being furnished with numerous cells in his stomach where he keeps water, as in a reservoir, fresh and perfectly good for a long time together ; it is said even 10 or 12 days. The Arabians consider the camel as a gift sent from heaven, a sacred animal, without whose assistance they could neither subsist, nor tra- vel. The milk of the camel is their common food. They also eat its flesh ; and of its hair they make gar- ments. Where shall we find his equal but in the rein- deer of the north ? The inhabitants of Lapland have little dependence on the fruits of the earth. They neither sow nor reap. Their comparative riches con- sist in the number of rein-deer. Their chief nourish- ment is derived from the flesh and milk of these ani- mals ; with the milk also they make cheese ; the skin serves for clothing ; the hair for fur ; the horns and hoofs for glue ; the sinews are split into thread which is very strong : bow-strings are made of the tendons; and the bones are manufactured into spoons. Another instance of the beneficent care of the Creator may be noticed in the broad palmated horns, £8 Of the adaptation of structure to climate, S?c. or brow-antlers, bending forwards, with which the face of the rein-deer is nearly covered : for, it has been suggested, that were it not for this structure of the horns the poor animal would perish in the midst of plenty : as it is thus enabled to get at a sufficient quantity of its favourite moss, which lies buried dur- ing the winter at the bottom of the snow ; and we can thus account for a circumstance that would otherwise appear singular : namely, that contrary to the nature of all other deer, the female is furnished with horns as well as the male.* Lawrence observes, that there are instances, in which whole tribes of human beings depend for the supply of all their wants, on one or two species of animals. " The Greenlander, and the Esquimaux of Labrador, placed in a region of almost constant snow and ice, where intense cold renders the soil incapable of producing any articles of human sustenance, are fed, clothed, and lodged from the seal. The flesh and blood of the seal are their food ; the blubber, or sub-cutaneous stratum of fat, affords them the means of procuring light and heat; the bones and teeth are converted into weapons, instruments, and various ornaments; the skin not only supplies them with clothing, but with the coverings of their huts and ca- noes. The stomach, intestines, and bladder, when dried, are turned to many and various uses : in their nearly transparent dry state they supply the place of glass in the windows; they form bladders for their * See Smellie, Linneeus, Church, &c. Of the adaptation of structure to climate, S?c. 29 harpoons, arrows, nets, &c; when sewed together they make under garments, curtains, &c; and are employed in place of linen on many occasions. Thus every part of the animal is converted, by a kind of domestic anatomy, to useful purposes, even to the tendons, which, when split and dried, form excellent threads. The Tschutski, the north-west Americans, the Aleutians, and other neighbouring islanders, as well as the Greenlanders, surprise us by manufactur- ing thread from the carcase of the whale ; splitting the fibres of its cutaneous muscle into lengths of a hundred feet or more ; and preparing from it a double- threaded twine, which, in the united requisites of fineness and strength, will bear comparison with any productions of European industry.* An instance of very wonderful adaptation in the physical economy of two insects of different species is recorded in the history of the ant. It is well known that many insects become torpid in extreme cold ; and that in this state they require no food. Ants present a remarkable exception to this rule : for they are not benumbed till the thermometer has sunk to 27° of Fahrenheit, or 5° below freezing. They therefore need a supply of provision through the greatest part of winter. Now, it is singular that the principal resource of the ant is the honey of another insect called the aphis, an insect which abounds on the plants that are usually found in the vicinity of ant-hills. This honey is an * See Lectures on Zoology, &c. by W. Lawrence, F.R.S. p. 44. 30 Of the adaptation of structure to climate, #c. exudation from the body of the aphis, and is absorbed greedily by the ants without any detriment to the in- sect that yields it. It is voluntarily given out by the aphis when solicited to do so by the ant. A single aphis supplies many ants with a plentiful meal. Now, it is a striking example of the coincidence or wise harmony subsisting in nature, that the aphis becomes torpid at precisely the same temperature as the ant. Some species of ants, we are told, bring the aphides to their own nests, instead of seeking them when the cold is excessive ; and lodge them near the vegetables on which they feed : while the domestic ants prevent them stirring out, guarding them with great care, and defending them as their own young. They even collect the eggs of the aphis ; and super- intend their hatching; continually moistening them with their tongue, and preserving them till the proper season for their exclusion ; and in a word, bestow all the attention which they give to the eggs of their own species. The ants defend them from the ants of other societies. That they have some notions of property in these insects would appear from their occasionally having establishments for their aphides at a distance from the city, in fortified buildings, which they construct for this purpose alone, in places which are secure from invasion. Here the aphides are confined as cows in a dairy, to supply the wants of the metropolis.* * See Huber on Ants, and Edinb. Review, vol. xx, p. 156. Of the adaptation of structure lo climate, fyc. SI Lawrence justly observes, m that we must take re- fuge either in verbal quibbles, or in exaggerated and unreasonable scepticism, if we refuse to recognize in the relation between peculiarity of structure and func- tion those designs and adaptations of exalted power and wisdom, in testimony of which all nature cries aloud through all her works." " I shall be contented," he adds, B with two illus- trations, which, although different from each other, are analagous in their purpose. The large cavities of birds, and the interior of their bones are filled with air ; thus they are rendered light and buoyant ; capa- ble of raising themselves into the higher regions of the atmosphere, of sustaining themselves with little effort in this rare medium, and cleaving the skies with won- derful celerity. Humboldt saw the enormous vulture of the Andes, the majestic condor, dart suddenly from the bottom of the deepest vallies to a considerable height above the summit of Chimbora^o, where the barometer must have been lower than ten inches. He frequently observed it soaring at an elevation six times higher than that of the clouds in our atmosphere. This bird, which reaches the measure of 14 feet with the wings extended, habitually prefers an elevation, at which the mercury of the barometer sinks to about 16 inches. u The mammalia, which live entirely, or princi- pally in the sea, as the whale kind, the walrus, the manata, and the seal, are rendered buoyant in this dense fluid by a thick stratum of fat laid over the 32 Of the adaptation of habit whole body under the skin. From this, which is called blubber, the whale and seal oil are extracted. The object of this structure in lightening these huge creatures, and facilitating their motions, is obviously the same as that of the air-cells in birds in relation to the element they inhabit."* Naturalists tell us, that the pelican chooses dry and desert places to lay her eggs ; but like the camel, she is formed for the wilderness. When her young are hatched, she is compelled to bring them water from great distances. For this purpose Providence has furnished her with a very large bag under the lower mandible of her bill, which she fills with a quantity of water sufficient for many days. (Some will hold from 10 to 20 quarts.) This water she pours into the nest, which is usually hollowed in the ground, to refresh her young, and to teach them to swim. And it is said, on good authority, that lions, tigers, and other rapacious animals resort to her nest to quench their thirst, but do no hurt to the young. Sect. IV. Adaptation of habit and disposition to structure. I shall in this place insert a few remarks taken from some eminent physiologists, by Herder, on the adap- tation of the structure of beasts to their habits and dis- positions, instanced in the elephant, the lion, and the * Lectures on Zoology, &c. and Disposition to Structure. 33 sloth. They are somewhat abridged from the work of this author on the Philosophy of Man, but display the glow and colouring for which the German writers pre distinguished. " The elephant, shapeless as he seems, displays physiological grounds enough of his superiority to other beasts, and resemblance to man. His brain indeed is not very large in proportion to the size of the animal, but it bears a striking resemblance to that of man. The cranium is small in pro- portion to the head, because the nostrils extend far over the brain, and fill the cavities of the forehead with air, at once to afford an extensive surface for the strong muscles that move the ponderous jaw, and to spare the creature an insupportable burthen of solid bone. The nerves of the animal are chiefly spent on the organs of the finer senses, and his trunk alone re- ceives as many as the whole bulk of his vast body. The trunk is the organ of a delicate feeling, an acute smell, and the freest motion. In it, therefore, many senses are combined and assist each other. The ex- pressive eye of the elephant, like no other animal, but man, is provided with hairs, and a delicate mo- tion in the lower eye-lid, and has the finer senses for its neighbours : and these are separated from the taste which governs other beasts. The mouth, which forms the predominant part of the visage in most other beasts, particularly of the carnivorous kind, is here almost concealed. The weapons of defence, the tusks, are distinct from the organs of nutrition ; he is not C 34: Of the adaptation of Habit formed, therefore, for savage voracity. Though his bowels are necessarily large, his stomach is small and simple, so that probably raging hunger cannot tor- ment him as it does beasts of prey. Peaceably and cleanly he crops the herb, and as his smell is separate from his mouth, he employs in this more time and caution. For the same caution has nature fashioned him in drinking, and in every other function of his massy structure; no sexual appetite inflames him with rage. The periods of his life, during which he grows, is in vigour, and decays, resemble those of man ; his hearing is so delicate, that besides music of which he is passionately fond, he can understand human language in fine discrimination of the tones of command and of the passions. His ears are larger than those of any other animal, thin and extended on all sides ; and the whole of the small occiput is a cave of echo, filled with air. Thus nature has wisely diminished the weight of the animal, and united the strongest muscular force with the most refined ner- vous economy : by which he is distinguished for sa- gacious quiet, and intelligent purity of sense. " How different a king of beasts is the lion ! Nature has established his throne on muscular force, not on mildness and superior intellect. His brain is small, and his nerves so weak, that they are not even pro- portionate to those of a cat : while his muscles are large and strong, so fixed as to produce the greatest force, instead of diversity and delicacy of motion. One »Teat muscle that lifts the neck; a muscle of the and Disposition to Structure. 35 forefoot which serves to grasp ; the joint of the foot close to the claws; these large and curved, so that their points cannot be blunted, as they never touch the earth : — these were his gifts for the purposes of life. His stomach is long, and much curved; its friction and his hunger, therefore, must be fearful. The cavities of the heart are longer and broader than in man, the parietes twice as thin, and the aorta twice as small ; so that the blood of the lion, as soon as it quits the heart, flows with four times the velo- city, and in the small branches with a hundred times that of the human circulation. The heart of the elephant on the contrary beats slowly, almost as much so, as in cold-blooded animals. The broad tongue of the lion is furnished with prickles an inch and half long, lying on the fore part, with their points directed backwards ; hence the danger of his licking the skin, which immediately fetches blood, and excites his thirst of it. As the tongue tastes acutely, and his fiery hunger is a kind of thirst, it is natural that he should have no appetite for putrid carrion. To kill his own food, to suck the warm blood, is his royal taste. Benevolent nature has blunted his senses; his eye is afraid of fire, and can- not even bear the sun ; his scent is not acute, the situation of his muscles only fitting him for great springs, not for running, and nothing putrid excites him. His forehead is small, compared with his ra-* venous jaws and masticating muscles; his nose large and long ; his neck and fore legs of amazing strength ; c 2 36 Of the adaptation of Habit his mane and the muscles of his tail ample ; but his hinder parts are more feeble and slender. Nature, to use a German expression, had exhausted his fear- ful powers, and made him in disposition, when not tormented with the thirst of blood, a generous and noble beast. So physiological are thus also this creature's mind and character. " The sloth, in appearance the most shapeless of beasts, may serve us for a third example. His head is small and round ; his limbs too are round, thick, shapeless, and like stuffed cushions ; his neck stiff, as if it were one piece with the head ; the hair of it has a contrary direction to that of the back ; the wretched head, in place, form and functions, being* subordinate to the belly and posteriors, which appear the prin- cipal parts ; for the organs of voracity far exceed those of sense ; and even the heart and lungs are slightly formed. Hence his blood is so cold as to border on that of amphibia; his heart palpitates long after being taken out, and the legs are agitated after the heart is gone, as though he were in a slumber. Thus while he wants susceptible nerves, and even active mu?cular powers, he possesses a more diffused and exquisite irritability, like the polypus or earth- worm. This singular animal, therefore, may be less unfortunate than he seems. He loves warmth and the quiet of sleep; when he wants warmth he sleeps; and as if lying down were painful to him, he fastens himself to a bough with his paws, and feeds himself with one of them, while, hanging from it like a bag and Disposition to Structure. 37 he enjoys in the warm sun-beams his grub-like ex- istence. Thus the mishapen form of his feet is a bene- fit to him. From the peculiarity of their structure, the tender animal cannot support himself on their balls, but only on the convexity of his claws; on which as on the wheels of a waggon, he shoves himself slowly and commodiously along. His six and forty ribs, the like of which no other qua- druped possesses, form a long vault for his store- house of provisions, and are the ossified rings of a voracious leaf-bag of a grub."* To the preceding may be added a few similar observations on the mole, a creature whose form and structure are admirably suited to its mode of life. " What more palpable argument of Providence than the mole ?'' says Cardan, cited by Dr. More, " Her body is so exactly fitted to her manner of life; for her dwelling being under ground where nothing is to be seen, nature has so obscurely provided her with an organ of sight, that naturalists have doubted whether she have any eyes at all or not ; but for amends, she has very eminently conferred upon her what she is capable of for defence and warning of danger; for she is exceedingly quick of hearing. And then we see to what purpose are her short tail and short legs, but broad fore-feet armed with sharp claws; she so swiftly working herself under ground and making her way so fast in the earth, as they that * See Herder's Philosophy of Man, Vol. 1. Book 3. S8 Of the adaptation of Habit behold it cannot but admire it. Her legs are short, that she need dig no more than will serve the mere thickness of her body ; and her fore feet are broad, that she may scoop away much earth at a time ; and little or no tail she has, because she courses not on the ground, like' the rat or mouse of whose kindred she is, but lives under the earth, and digs herself a dwelling there. And she making her way, through so thick an element, which will not yield easily, it had been dangerous to have drawn so long a train behind her ; for her enemy might fall upon her rear, and fetch her out, before she had completed or got full possession of her works." Boyle remarks pretty correctly, that although the mole is not totally blind, she has scarcely sight enough to distinguish particular objects. It is supposed that her eye is so constructed as to give her the idea of light and nothing else, and that this idea or sensa- tion is probably painful to the animal. Hence when she comes into broad day she might be in danger of being taken, unless she were thus affected by a light striking upon her eye, and immediately warning her to bury herself in her proper element. More sight would be useless to her, as none at all might be fatal ?* There would be no end of physiological facts and reasonings, tending to prove the intelligence and design displayed in the formation and habits of the * Spectator, Vol. 2. No. 120. and Disposition to Structure. 39 lower animals. All the writings upon natural the- ology, as it is called, abound in such observations ; and there is scarcely a single animal, whose nature and habits are at all known, that might not afford an obvious illustration. CHAP. III. OF THE INSTINCTS IN MAN. The examples, which have been hitherto selected, afford some tolerable notion of the views and ground intended to be taken in the following reasonings. Whether we regard the form and internal structure of the lower animals, physiologically, or their acts and general economy, physically, we have the clearest evidence that their instinctive actions are regulated by the most perfect intelligence. And because means are so wonderfully adapted to their ends, we are compelled to suppose that these actions are not entirely under their own direction ; but, as all are perfect in their kinds, and all conspire, (every indi- vidual in its limited sphere) with astonishing, unerring precision, to one great end, — the support and con- tinuance, and order of the outward creation, — we must conclude, that the whole are governed by a power infinite in wisdom, working in them by its energy, through the instrumentality of their respective Of the Instincts in Man. 41 And, again, we are necessitated to conclude, that however human sagacity may have succeeded, in a few obvious instances, in explaining the relation of the structure of any organ to its outward use, yet there is not an animal act in the creation which does not involve the supposition of an ultimate cause, mysterious and inexplicable. Nay, we are warranted in determining, from ana- logy, if we look at the simple law of gravitation, as well as from the constitution and frame of the human mind, (which always bewilders itself in attempting to comprehend the abstract relation of physical cause and effect,) that the theory of these animal instinctive operations never can be clearly discovered to the natural human understanding. But, before 1 proceed, it' may be proper for me to prepare the ground-work a little better for further observation, by noticing in this place, a few of those simple instinctive operations which belong to Man himself;— operations, which, being of paramount importance to the individual welfare of the human creature, notwithstanding he is dignified by his rational powers, have not been entrusted to Reason, we may safely presume, because of its insufficiency to the several offices. Hence, we cannot wonder that Man should be un- able to comprehend in the Brute, what is going for- ward in his own system, as darkly and mysteriously, as respects his own conception or knowledge of the operation, (perhaps it may be said, as independently), 42 Of the Instincts in Man. * as if he had never been endowed with the inquisitive and penetrating faculty 'of Reason. He is as much at fault in explaining satisfactorily the operation of any one of his own organs, with the most skilful anatomist at his service, as he would be in tracing the classes and orders of his ideas laid up in the store- house of his mind, or in ascertaining how he recalls, associates, and compares these invisible elements of thought. The most philosophical view of human Instincts which I have seen, is contained in Dr. Reid's Essays on the powers of the Mind. Dr. Gregory in his Com- parative View, though he often alludes to them, has given us but little special information ; neither dis- tinguishing nor enumerating these original powers. Smellie has dismissed the subject with a very brief general notice. All seem to agree that Instinct is a principle com- mon to Man and the whole animal world ; — that many things necessary for our preservation must be done by it, — that our Instincts are adapted to the weakness of our understandings, — and that the most remarkable appear in infancy, when we are ignorant of every thing, and therefore (in the language of Dr. Reid), " must perish if we had not an invisible Guide, who leads us blindfold in the way we should take, if we had eyes to see it." It may be proper again to define Instinct to be w a natural blind impulse to certain actions, without Of the Instincts of Man. 43 having- any end in view, without deliberation, and very often without any conception of what we do." Thus, the act of breathing is performed by the alternate contraction and relaxation of certain mus- cles, by which the chest is expanded in its dimensions or contracted, and consequently the capacity of the lunffs increased or diminished: so as either to brine: the blood nearly in contact with the atmospherical air, that it may undergo a chemical change essential to life, or, when freed from its carbonaceous prin- ciple, that it may be withdrawn into the general circulation. " We cannot suppose," says Dr. Reid, " that the infant knows any thing about the chemical or the mechanical theory of this important vital function ; yet he breathes as soon as he is born with perfect re- gularity, as if he had been taught, and had acquired the habit by long practice. 11 By the same kind of instinct a new-born child sucks and swallows its food as perfectly as if it knew the principles of the operation, which is very complex. About thirty pair of muscles must be employed in every draught, yet not simultaneously, but succeeding each other in certain order. This regular train of operations is, however, carried on according to the nicest rules of art by the infant who has neither art nor science, nor experience nor habit. That it knows nothing of the mean's by which the sensation of hunger may. be removed, is evident — for it will suck indis- 44 OJ the Instincts in Man, criminately every thing brought into contact with its mouth." By a like principle, Dr. Reid supposes, that infants cry when they are pained or hurt ; that they are afraid, when they are left alone ; that they start when in danger of falling; that they are terrified by an angry countenance or angry tones of voice, and are soothed and comforted by a placid countenance and by soft and gentle tones of voice. In the more perfect of the lower animals we see much the same instincts as in the human kind. Dr. Reid again remarks, that " besides the instincts which appear only in infancy, and are intended to supply the want of understanding in that early period, there are many which continue through life and which supply the defects of our intellectual powers in every period." Of these he notices three classes. " First — There are many things necessary to be done for our preservation, which even when we will to do, we know not the means by which they must be done. A man knows that he must swallow his food before it can nourish him. But he knows nothing of the names and nature and office of the various nerves and muscles which must co-operate to this action. If it were to be directed by his understanding and will, he would starve, before he learned how to per- form it. These nerves and muscles are moved by some impulse, of which the cause is unknown, with- out any thought, will, or intention on his part — they Of the Instincts in Man. 45 are moved instinctively. And this is the case, in some degree, in every voluntary motion of our body, as in stretching out the arm. We neither know, nor think any thing of nerve or muscle, when we stretch out the arm, yet they immediately produce the effect which we designed. " A second case, in which we have need of Instinct, even in advanced life, is, where the action must be so frequently repeated that to intend and will it every time it is done would occupy too much of our thought, and leave no room for other necessary employments of the mind. " We must breathe often every minute whether awake or asleep. We must often close the eye-lids, in order to preserve the lustre of the eye. Nature gives us an impulse to do them without any thought at all. " A third case, in which we need the aid of Instinct, is when the action must be done so suddenly, that there is no time to think and determine. When a man loses his balance, either on foot or on horseback, he makes an instantaneous effort to recover it by instinct. The effort would be in vain, if it waited the determination of reason and will. " When anything threatens our eyes, we wink hard by instinct, and can scarcely avoid doing so, even when we know that the stroke is aimed in jest, and that we are safe from danger." Dr. Ileid concludes, that " thus the merciful author 46 Of the Instincts in Mem. of our nature hath adapted our instincts to the weakness of our understanding. " In infancy we are ignorant of every thing; yet many things must be done for our preservation, and these are done by Instinct. When we grow up there are many motions of our limbs and bodies necessary, which can be performed only by a curious and com- plex machinery, of which the bulk of mankind are totally ignorant, and which the most skilful anato- mist knows but imperfectly. All this machinery is set a going by Instinct. a Some actions must be so often repeated through the whole of life, that if they required attention and will, we should be able to do nothing else. These are done by instinct. Our preservation from danger often requires such sudden exertions, that there is no time to think and to determine. Accordingly we make such exertions by instinct." In addition to the preceding observations on human instinct, Dr. Reid has made some judicious remarks on the appetites which seem to apply, to the present subject. " The ends," says he, li for which our natural ap- petites are given, are too evident to escape the obser- vation of any man of the least reflection. The reason of mankind would be altogether insufficient for these ends, without the direction and call of appetite. Though a man knew that his life must be supported by eating, reason could not direct him when to eat Of the Instincts in Man, 47 or what; how much, or how often. In all these things appetite is a much better guide than reason. Were reason only to direct us in this matter, its calm voice would often be drowned in the hurry of busi- ness, or the charms of amusement. But the voice of appetite rises gradually, and at last becomes loud enough to call off our attention from any other em- ployment. Without our appetites, even supposing mankind inspired with all the knowledge requisite for answering their ends, the race of men must have perished long ago ; but by their means, whether man be savage or civilized, knowing or ignorant, virtuous or vicious, the race is continued from one generation to another. " By the same means, the tribes of brute animals, from the whale that ranges the ocean to the least microscopic insect, have been continued from the be- ginning of the world to this day."* I have thus enumerated a few of those actions in mankind which suggested themselves to Dr. Reid, as appertaining to the province of Instinct. It is true, they appear somewhat different from the examples that have been given of pure instinct in the brute; and it is possible, that many may question how far some of them belong to this class of animal opera- tions. Some perhaps may refer them entirely to me- chanical impulse. But whether the moving cause act in the first instance by mechanical impression ; or whether the term Instinct deserves to be applied * See Reid's Essays, vol. 3. Essay 3. Chap. I. 48 Of the Instincts in Man. to them or not ; they certainly do not come within the province of Reason ; for they are common to some of the lowest of the brute animals with man; and so far, the conclusion, that they are inde- pendent of conscious intention or deliberation, must remain unshaken. Admitting with Dr. Priestley, that none of these actions are instinctive, and that they are wholly to be explained on mechanical principles, it is easy to see that we must come at last to precisely the same con- clusion respecting a divine Intelligence, whether we suppose that it acts in the first instance on mechanical or on vital powers. But, one would think, it was now sufficiently settled, that none of the acts of any living organised being can be explained on purely mechanical principles, without some inherent vital energy, communicated by the Creator. Therefore the acts of breathing and sucking, though they may implicate some degree of mechanical agency, are in their nature eminently vital, and have no more to do with outward instruction than the germination of a seed has to do with it. Consequently they arise from an instinctive physical impulse directed by Supreme Wisdom. It appears, therefore, that we have no need to look to the lower animals in order to feel the conviction that many operations, marking singular intelligence, are going forward in the animal economy, which are not under the direction of Reason, and which we are unable to comprehend. Neither are we under the Of the Instincts in Man. 49 necessity of being confined to doubtful instances in the human system : for, to rely on these would only weaken our argument, if they were the best or only ones we could adduce. But it is certain that the most important functions of the human body, as digestion, assimilation, nutrition, absorption, secre- tion, circulation, respiration, and many others, are performed by instinctive living actions, with the operation of which our reason or volition has no immediate concern. Science has pointed out to us, obscurely, the mechanism or fabric of the organs on which some of these functions depend. I say, 06- scurely^ for every fresh insight we get by the micro- scope or by injection, only shews a new series of wonders in their structure. But about the mode of their working we are as ignorant, as if we knew nothing at all of the mechanism. In truth, the only material difference that seems to exist between these instinctive actions and others in principle, is this, that they are internal and almost invisible, except by their effects ; whereas the others properly called Instincts, display themselves openly to our view. The caterpillar, when shaken off the leaves of a tree, that returns and crawls up t{ie trunk and along the branches till it regains the situation best fitted for its present support and future transformation, does not exhibit a phenomenon differing much in principle from the stomach that digests, or the gland that secretes, or the lacteal that absorbs. The chief D 50 Of the Instincts in Man. difference is, that the latter are parts of a system, and the insect to which I have alluded constitutes a whole or entire self-moving' structure. But the perfection with which the several organs of the body discharge their functions, when in a state of health, is as worthy of admiration as any phenomenon without us among the insect tribes. And we may presume, as they are none of them the works of man, that the evidence of wisdom should equally appear in one class of pheno- mena as in another — consequently, the perfection and efficiency of the acts as well as of the divine work- manship. When a bone is broken, the surgeon does not in fact produce a union between the fractured ends. That process is effected by a power of self-restoration in the human body, to which his skill cannot reach ; and because he can go no farther, he calls it a law of the animal economy. He may, indeed, aid and assist, or he may thwart: so much power has been given to man, to good or to evil, over the body as well as the mind : but the ultimate efforts are not his own, nor can he wholly command their obe- dience. Hence has arisen the term vis medicatrix natures, or healing power of nature, to designate a power implanted in the bodily constitution to preside over all its functions, vital and natural, for its support in health, and its preservation from injury, — a principle, powerfully active in effect, whether the term be ad- mitted or rejected, and under all its appellations Of the Instincts in Man, 51 meaning the same thing, though the cause be un- known. Therefore, whether it be called the Qvo-ts of Hippocrates, the archceus of Van Helmont, the anima of Stahl, or the vis medicatrix of Cullen ; whe- ther it be dignified as the vital principle or degraded to mere mechanical and organic impulse ; it is used to imply a mysterious innate faculty or power, from the moment of birth, — even from the first rudiments of living action, — ever watching and sustaining the body in its struggles with the various accidents of time to the last hour of human existence, when by an irre- versible decree its efforts must cease. n 2 CHAP. IV. OF CERTAIN ACTIONS IN THE LOWER ANI- MALS, IN SOME DEGREE DISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE OPERATIONS OF INSTINCT. Sect. I. On the effects of Human Intercourse on the lower Animals. Having given a few examples of Instinct, or of a power operating above the conscious intelligence of the creature, I shall for the present digress from my immediate subject to notice certain actions of the lower animals ; some of which seem to be referable to human instruction, some to a conscious intelli- gence or modified rationality in the creature, some to natural acuteness of the organs of sense, and some to the operation of a sense or faculty which appears to be altogether inexplicable. It is pretty obvious that Instinct acts more imme- diately and determinately in the lower animals, like the appetites in man, for the preservation of the On the effects of human intercourse, Sfc. 55 individual and the multiplication of the species. The lower animals have also their appetites; but these are wisely placed under the government of Instinct, while the appetites of man require the controul of his higher principles. The means which the brutes have of procuring food, of defending themselves from danger, and of providing for their offspring, are conducted with ad- mirable skill and economy. This is an institution of nature under her own especial care. But beyond these objects we find them capable of many acts and services, which in various ways we turn to our own advantage. We may perhaps adopt the general conclusion that Instinct governs the Brutes, and still admit the ex- ception that some of their actions are not compre- hended in this rule ; as we may lay down the general position that man is a rational being, though we know that the conduct of many is often highly irrational; and, besides, many actions of the human frame are sub- ject to the laws of instinct. But to draw the universal conclusion that man is under the exclusive dominion of Reason, and the brute under that of Instinct, would perhaps be assuming more than is consistent with sound philosophy. It is, therefore, of importance to ascertain under what peculiar circumstances the lower animals ex- hibit phenomena. of the doubtful character alluded to ; so that some of the wisest men should say, the barrier between Instinct and Reason is too nice to be 54 On the effects of human intercourse apprehended ; and, as Pope expresses it, " that these principles are for ever separate, yet for ever near." It appears, then, as far as we can range in the field of nature to survey the instincts of animals, that the farther they are removed from the confines of human intercourse, the more perfect are their instincts. And, on the contrary, the more their natural habits are changed by the artificial modes of life common in human Society, they lay aside pure instinct, and the more do the actions, at least of the more perfect ani- mals, approach to the rule or line of rationality. Indeed, we see something of this kind to happen in our own species; for if instinct, as it is commonly understood, have any thing to do with the perfection of the senses, we know that in the rude or natural state of human society, they go far to excel those of the brute; and even the sight and hearing and smell are so wonderfully acute, as, in many important points relating to their personal advantages, to con- vey clearer information to the unenlightened Indian than the philosopher could attain by all his scientific experience. Hence, it would appear, that, as man- kind is compressed in society, their instincts like those of the brute, give place to the culture of Reason : while, as man takes his range in the wilds of unculti- vated nature, and seeks no other guide for his direc- tion, his senses acquire a perfection which sometimes far exceeds the laboured deductions of reason. Dr. Gregory had a view somewhat similar to this, which he has expressed in the following passage: " Some on the lower animals. 55 of the advantages, says he, which the brute animals have over us are possessed in a considerable degree by those of our own species, who, being but just above them, and guided in a manner entirely by in- stinct, are equally strangers to the noble attainments of which their natures are capable, and to the many miseries attendant on their more enlightened brethren of mankind." " Is it not notorious," he adds, " that all animals, except ourselves, enjoy every pleasure their natures are capable of, that they are strangers to pain and sickness, and, abstracting from external accidents, arrive at the natural period of their being ? We speak of wild animals only. Those that are tame and under our direction, partake of all our miseiies." " Is it a necessary consequence of our superior facul. ties, that not one of 10,000 of our species dies a natural death, that we struggle through a frail and feverish being, in continual danger of sickness, of pain, of dotage, and the thousand nameless ills that experience shows to be the portion of human life ?"* Dr. Gregory intimates that this is not the designed order of nature ; and that these evils are adventitious and unnatural to our constitution. u There is a remarkable uniformity," continues Dr. Gregory, u in the works of animals. But the only exception to this uniformity of character in the different species of animals seems to be among those who are most connected with mankind, particularly * See Comparative View. 56 On the effects of Human intercourse dogs and horses : animals under our direction par- take of all our miseries.'' So then, by bringing the lower animals under the direction of our reason, we abridge their enjoyments while we degrade their instincts. Now I apprehend, this effect in the lower animals can only arise from a departure from the original institutions of nature, in consequence of their con- nection with the artificial usages of human society. But if brutes by this connection partake of some of our miseries, it is reasonable to think they should be compensated by partaking of some of our advantages : and if they lose their natural instincts, what compen- sation can we afford them except by imparting a portion of our Reason ? Accordingly, this view of the case has been taken by others, and it has, I think, been satisfactorily shewn, that Brutes, in the extreme of utter estrangement from man, when they are unprotected by human power and intelligence, require the play of all their instincts to provide for their wants and to avoid or subdue their enemies. But when they are admitted to inti- mate familiarity with man, and receiving kindness and a sort of culture at his hands, they seem to be enlightened with a ray of human reason, and warmed with a degree of human affection. But, it is in that intermediate state, when the animal has lost the wild freedom of the forest, and is become the slave of man, without acquiring the privilege of being his friend and companion, that instinct languishes without being on the lower animals. 57 replaced by the borrowed beam from human intelli- gence. * Now, it is easy to perceive, that something of the same kind may be traced in our own species, so wonderfully does the analogy run between man and the brute, in this case as in many others. For we observe a similar effect to that above stated on com- paring the lofty independence of the native Indian, exulting in a life of freedom, and enjoying his natu- ral powers in full perfection, with the opposite ex- treme, in which a high state of civilization and of civil liberty call forth the exercise of the rational powers in the improvement of art and science : while in that intermediate state, — the deplorable condition of slavery and oppression, under which so many thou- sands of our fellow creatures groan, — a listless torpor is manifest, which affords neither exercise to the natu- ral senses or instincts, nor scope for the developement of reason. And it cannot but be interesting to notice, how mankind and the brutes, respectively, afford striking examples, according to the situations in which they are accidentally thrown, either of the rude and hardy instructions of nature on the one hand, or of the higher but enfeebling cultivation of art on the other; participating as it were in the ad- vantages and disadvantages of each state, as if to a certain extent they were compounded of the same elements. But we need not be alarmed at this partial resemblance, while we consider that in one important * See a similar remark in "Instinct Displayed," by P. Wakefield, JLetter 34. 58 On the effects of Human intercourse light they will bear no comparison. For, so long as man is conscious of his Maker, and the brute uncon- scious, so long in point of abstract relation to the eternal source of Wisdom and Goodness, must the most intelligent brute be placed on equality with the plant or stone. And when we trace the relations of man in some striking analogies with the lower animals, we only trace his affinity to the earth out of which he was formed, in earthly affections and desires. But when we contemplate his mind, soaring into infinity, seeking to comprehend what is at present incomprehensible, taking a glimpse into the world of spirits, and looking forward into futurity with a cu- riosity unceasing and unsatisfied, we trace at once his relation to another state of being, and discover that he is animated by a spark of divine intelligence. To return to the train of reasoning, we may ob- serve the degradation of the natural instincts to which I have alluded, in kine, sheep, goats, fowls, &c. when domesticated. In horses and dogs, too, these original instincts are much diminished; but in the latter, a compensation, as I before remarked, is provided in the borrowed light of reason. It is not to feed upon them, but to make their strength, their diligence, their sagacity and attachment subservient to our own wants, that we tame and teach these faithful animals. But this is not the case with the other class, which we merely protect and fatten without expecting from them any services like those of the dog or horse ; services that require a recollection of the past, antici- on the lower animals, 59 pation of the future, and the exercise of those powers which do not, like instinct, operate uniformly, and therefore are allied to human reason, or as an able writer expresses it, " are a kind of borrowed light from the rational powers of the thinking and govern- ing nature.'* In a wild state, kine for instance, possess an acute- ness, both of sight and smell, and a spirit and fierce- ness in defending their young, which disappear when, by domestication, we have reduced them to a con- dition in which the former of these qualities would be of no value, and the latter dangerous to themselves and others. In their wild state, they distinguish by the smell, the grass where the footsteps of man are to be traced, with symptoms of peculiar agitation, as of rage and horror. The beaver in his native state is superior to most other animals in forethought and something like in- telligence. He is politic, vigilant, and social, labour- ing incessantly for the public good. He is not only- most industrious, but most versatile in the modes of his industry. He is neither discouraged by difficulties, nor exhausted by toil. He sees the labour of years swept away by the floods, and instantly begins, with renewed activity, to repeat the same labours. But in a state of captivity what a change! No creature can then appear more awkward and less adapted to serve or please. His fine instinct is de- graded or perverted. The only distinction it shows its master, is not biting him. From its habits of