INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT. 45 



134. Other animals cannot aspire to conceptions of this 

 kind ; they contemplate merely those objects which imme- 

 diately strike the senses, and without exercising any con- 

 tinuous effort of the reasoning faculty in regard to them. 

 Their conduct, moreover, is regulated by another princi- 

 ciple of inferior order, still derived from the immaterial 

 principle, called INSTINCT. 



135. Under the guidance of Instinct, animals are enabled 

 to perform certain operations, without instruction, in one un- 

 deviating manner. When man chooses wood and stone, as 

 the materials for his dwelling, in preference to straw and 

 leaves, it is because he has learned by experience, or because 

 his associates have informed him, that these materials are 

 more suitable for the purpose. But the bee requires no in- 

 structions in building her comb. She selects, without hesita- 

 tion, the fittest materials ; and the young bee exhibits, in this 

 respect, as much discernment as those who have had the 

 benefit of long experience. She performs her task without 

 previous study, and, according to all appearances, without 

 the consciousness of its utility, being in some sense impelled 

 to it by a blind impulse. 



136. If, however, we judge of the instinctive acts of ani- 

 mals compared with the acts of intelligence, by the relative 

 perfection of their products, we may be led into gross errors, 

 as a single example will show. No one will deny that the 

 honey-comb is constructed with more art and care than the 

 huts of many tribes of men. And yet, who would presume 

 to conclude from this, that the bee is superior in intelligence 

 to the inhabitant of the desert or of the primitive forest ? 

 It is evident, on the contrary, that in this particular case, we 

 are not to judge of the artisan by his work. As a work of 

 man, a structure as perfect in all respects as the honey- 

 comb would indicate very complicated mental operations, 

 and probably numerous preliminary experiments. 



