380 Dr. Buchanan on the Wound of the Ferret. 



animals capable of reasoning, the instinctive acts are under the 

 control of the reasoning power, and are frequently not per- 

 formed aright at the first, as in the case of the young Ferrets 

 above-mentioned. The ultimate result, however, of the reasoning 

 process in such cases cannot be doubtful, since the bodily orga- 

 nization operating upon the mind will admit of only one conclu- 

 sion; and hence, even in the highest species of animals, these 

 instinctive acts are always ultimately performed exactly m the 

 same way. 



The instinctive acts which excite our wonder most are such as 

 those we observe among the insect tribes, in which the inter- 

 vention of reason cannot be suspected, and which are, on that 

 account, the better fitted to elucidate the true nature of instinct. 

 But the wonder with which we regard the workmanship of in- 

 sects proceeds mainly from an erroneous view of the directing 

 power by which it is carried on. The honey-comb and the spi- 

 der's web are, without doubt, wonderful in their structure ; but 

 they are in no respect more wonderful than the elaborate struc- 

 tures which the microscope displays to us in every tissue of ani- 

 mals and vegetables ; even in the mathematical exactness of form, 

 so much celebrated, they are not superior to the regular hexagons 

 which form the epidermis of many plants, and which we find 

 equally regular in the same tissue of certain reptiles. Now, the 

 former structures are not held to be more wonderful than the 

 latter, because they are fabricated by the instrumentality of mus- 

 cular fibres ; for in that point of view we should marvel more at 

 the latter, which are fabricated by less perfect instruments — 

 vessels and cells. The true cause why the former structures have 

 been regarded with most wonder is, that it has been supposed 

 that the action of the muscles which form them must be volun- 

 tary — a supposition which implies necessarily the existence of a 

 directing mind. Now, the physiology of the present day gives 

 no countenance to such a supposition. It shows us, on the con- 

 trary, innumerable muscular acts in all animals, with which vo- 

 lition has no more to do than with digestion or nutrition. Such 

 acts may originate in external impulses which excite the nervous 

 system, and the acts follow immediately, as if from a physical 

 necessity. They may originate also, as in the case before us, in 

 internal impulses, derived from the organic condition of the tis- 

 sues of the body, and the changes they are continually under- 

 going. The two series of structures which we have brought into 

 comparison are therefore to be regarded as the products of the 

 same organizative or plastic force ; which, acting in one way, em- 

 ploys vessels and cells for its instruments, and produces, within 

 the body, the innumerable structures of which animals and ve- 

 getables are made up ; and, acting in another way, employs for 



