206 ON INSTINCT IN MAX AND ANIMALS. 



Does Man possess Instincts. 



Many of the upholders of the instinctive theory 

 maintain, that man has instincts exactly of the same 

 nature as those of animals, but more or less liable to 

 be obscured by his reasoning powers; and as this is 

 a case more open to our observation than any other, 

 I will devote a few pages to its consideration. Infants 

 are said to suck by instinct, and afterwards to walk 

 by the same power, while in adult man the most pro- 

 minent case of instinct is supposed to be, the powers 

 possessed by savage races to find their way across a 

 trackless and previously unknown wilderness. Let 

 us take first the case of the infant's sucking. It is 

 sometimes absurdly stated that the new-born infant 

 " seeks the breast," and this is held to be a wonderful 

 proof of instinct. No doubt it would be if true, but 

 unfortunately for the theory it is totally false, as 

 every nurse and medical man can testify. Still, the 

 child undoubtedly sucks without teaching, but this is 

 one of those simple acts dependent upon organization, 

 which cannot properly be termed instinct, any more 

 than breathing or muscular motion. Any object of 

 suitable size in the mouth of an infant excites the 

 nerves and muscles so as to produce the act of suction, 

 and when at a little later period, the will comes into 

 play, the pleasurable sensations consequent on the act 

 lead to its continuance. So, walking is evidently de- 

 pendent on the arrangement of the bones and joints, 

 and the pleasurable exertion of the muscles, which 



