IX ADVANCED THEORIES 131 



of her larvae. Far from discovering the least indica- 

 tion of reasoning, I see only an act of instinct so 

 elementary that it is really not worth consideration. 



To abase man and exalt animals in order to 

 establish a point of contact, then a point of fusion, — 

 such has been the usual system of the advanced 

 theories now in fashion. Ah ! how often do we not 

 find in these sublime theories that are a sickly craze 

 of our day, proofs peremptorily asserted, which 

 under the light of experiment would appear as absurd 

 as the Sphex of the learned Erasmus Darwin ! 



