INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT. 69 







134. Other animals cannot aspire to conceptions of this 

 kind ; they perceive only such objects as immediately strike 

 their senses, and are incapable of continuous efforts of the 

 reasoning faculty in regard to them. But their conduct is 

 frequently regulated by another principle 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 

 undeviating 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 be- 

 cause his associates have informed him, that these materials 

 are more suitable for the purpose. But the bee requires no 

 instructions in building her comb. She selects at once the 

 fittest materials, and employs them with the greatest econo- 

 my ; 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, 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 when compared with 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 would require numerous preliminary experiments. 



137. The instinctive actions of animals relate either to 



