58 A OHAPTER ON INSTINCT; 



outset, namely, to trace which are the lowest creatures in the scale of 

 animate creation; we can scarcely draw the line between the vegetable and 

 the animal kingdom; nor do we know which kind in each approaches 

 nearest to which in the other, So again, in arriving at the highest ele- 

 vation it is diflBcult to know to what animal we are to attribute the highest 

 powers — powers which we feel ourselves obliged to call instinctive, but which 

 certainly border so closely on those of reason, that when we attempt to 

 reason about them we find ourselves at once out of our depth, and are 

 constrained to leave the matter where we found it, as to any conclusioa 

 to come to, as being ^'^far above our thoughts." 



There is a passage in Holy Writ which, though considered by some to 

 be strained in having such a construction put upon it,, yet certainly does 

 appear, because it appears so at the very first sight, to refer obviously to 

 this supposed fact. I allude to Romans, viii. 21, 22. — ''Because the creature 

 itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 

 liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation 

 groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." 



''We are but of yesterday, and know nothing ;"^ but though this is 

 indeed most true, short-sighted and ignorant as we are, yet it may have 

 been intended to put into our minds to suspect some things, which hereafter 

 we may find to have been so close to the truth, as to have been the very 

 truth itself. We know not but that, which there is yet so much cause to 

 suppose, our connection with the invisible world may be very much nearer 

 and closer than many at all think of, or than any orre can know, even as 

 Jacob said, (Genesis, xxviii. 16,) "Surely the LoRtx is in this place, and 

 I knew it not;" and so, in like manner, the creatures around us, which 

 we only consider to be gifted with instinct, may, for ought we know to 

 the contrary, and which there is such abundant reason to think, be en- 

 dowed with powers far beyond mere instinct, so called; — powers, which if 

 not identical with our own, may yet be closely akin to them. What a 

 constraining effect should this thought have upon us iu all our dealings 

 with the dumb animals, which, though certainly Got> has placed in subjec- 

 tion under us, yet, as certainly. He has not so placed to be any otherwise 

 than well treated by us. Who knows but that in- the nest world, even 

 animals may be restored to ; their bodies, and may live again. Reason 

 suggests at least this to us, and what says revelation in the passage already 

 quoted ? 



But I have said enough by way of introduction, and I will, by and by, 

 shew, by several striking instances, how much greater powers of, so to call 

 them, the mental faculties there are in many, in so many, animals, than 

 we may at all have thought of, and if in any individuals of a species, why 

 not the same, even if supposed to be latent and dormant, in every other 



