201 ON INSTINCT IN MAS AND ANIMALS. 



determine what we mean by the term instinct. It 

 has been variously defined as u disposition operating 

 without the aid of instruction or experience," " a 

 mental power totally independent of organization," or 

 "a power enabling an animal to do that which, in those 

 things man can do, results from a chain of reasoning, 

 and in things which man cannot do, is not to be ex- 

 plained by any efforts of the intellectual faculties." 

 We find, too, that the word instinct is very frequently 

 applied to acts which are evidently the result either 

 of organization or of habit. The colt or calf is said 

 to walk instinctively, almost as soon as it is born ; 

 but this is solely due to its organization, which ren- 

 ders walking both possible and pleasurable to it. So 

 we are said instinctively to hold out our hands to 

 save ourselves from falling, but this is an acquired 

 habit, which the infant does not possess. It appears 

 to me that instinct should be defined as sc the per- 

 formance by an animal of complex acts, absolutely 

 without instruction or previously-acquired knowledge." 

 Thus, acts are said to be performed by birds in build- 

 ing their nests, by bees in constructing their cells, 

 and by many insects in providing for the future wants 

 of themselves or their progeny, without ever having 

 seen such acts performed by others, and without any 

 knowledge of why they perform them themselves. 

 This is expressed by the very common term " blind 

 instinct." But we have here a number of assertions 

 of matters of fact, which, strange to say, have never 

 been proved to be facts at all. They are thought to 



