i26 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



INSTINCT, 



WITH ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS ON YOUNG ANIMALS.* 

 By DOUGLAS A. SPALDING. 



r MHE exquisite skill and accurate knowledge observable in the lives 

 -*- of the lower animals, which men generally have regarded as in- 

 stinctive — born with them — have ever been subjects of wonder. In the 

 hands of the natural theologian, whose armory has been steadily im- 

 poverished in proportion as mystery has given way before science, in- 

 stinct is still a powerful weapon. When the divine expatiates on the 

 innate wisdom and the marvelous untaught dexterity of beasts, birds, 

 and insects, he is in little danger of being checked by the men of 

 science. His learned enemies are dumb, when in triumph he asks the old 



question : 



Who taught the nations of the field and wood 



To shun their poison and to choose their food? 



Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, 



Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand? 



The very little that our psychologists have done for instinct may be told 

 in a few words. The only theory of instinct, of the nature of an expla- 

 nation, is that put forward by Mr. Herbert Spencer as part of his 

 philosophy of evolution; but, as a theory, it is only beginning to be 

 understood and appreciated among scientific men; while some eminent 

 thinkers question the reality of the phenomena to be explained. Pro- 

 fessor Bain, our other psychologist, and his able following of trained dis- 

 ciples, simply discredit the alleged facts of instinct. Unfortunately, 

 however, instead of putting the matter to the test of observation and 

 experiment, they have contented themselves with criticizing the few 

 accidental observations that have been recorded, and with arguing 

 against the probability of instinctive knowledge. In defending the 

 Berkeleian Theory of Vision, Professor Bain, in answer to the assertion 

 that the young of the lower animals manifest an instinctive perception of 

 distance by the eye, contends that 'there does not exist a body of careful 

 and adequate observations on the early movements of animals.' Writing 

 long ago on the same subject, Mr. Mill also, while admitting that 'the 

 facts relating to the young of the lower animals have been long felt to 

 be a real stumbling-block in the way of the theory,' maintains that 'our 

 knowledge of the mental operations of animals is too imperfect to enable 



* Reprinted from Macmillan'a Magazine, February, 1873. 



