364 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



Philofophers is a direct attack on the Supreme In- 

 telligence itfelf, which is invariable in it's plans, 

 as animals are in their inftincl. If bees uniformly 

 conftruct their cells of the fame figure, it is becaufe 

 Nature always makes bees of the fame form. 



I do not mean, however, to affirm, that the rea- 

 fon of beafts and that of Man is the fame : ours is, 

 without difpute, much more extenfive than the 

 inftinc~t of each animal in particular ; but if Man 

 is endowed with an univerfal reafon, mud it not 

 be becaufe his wants are univerfal ? He likewife 

 difcerns, it is true, the wants of other animals ; 

 but may it not be relatively to himfelf that he has 

 made this his ftudy ? If the dog gives himfelf no 

 concern about the oats of the horfe, it is, perhaps, 

 becaufe the horfe is not fubfervient to the wants 

 of the dog. 



We poffefs, notwithstanding, natural adaptations 

 peculiar to ourfelves, fuch as the art of agriculture, 

 and the ufe of fire. The knowledge of thefe, un- 

 doubtedly, would demonftraie our natural fuperi- 

 ority, were it not, at the fame time, a proof of our 

 wretchednefs. Animals are under no nccemty to 

 kindle fires, and to caft feed into the ground, as 

 they are clothed and fed by the hand of Nature ; 

 befides, many of them have, in themfelves, facul- 

 ties 



