REASON PROGRESSIVE. 19 



has something belonging to it almost mechanical, and 

 marks no degree of superiority or merit in the pos- 

 sessor. One bee is as expert in forming the cell with 

 geometrical exactness as another. The individuals of 

 a whole species are equally skilful in performing the 

 tasks of instinct : each fulfils his part in perfection, 

 nor do they ever improve or degenerate : the bees of 

 the present day do not excel those in the days of 

 Adam. The same remarks belong to all the various 

 tribes of animals ; they rear their young, procure their 

 food, and defend themselves from their enemies, as 

 well as the first of their kind, and no better. 



" Here, then," continued he, " is a clear distinc- 

 tion between reason and instinct. 



" Let us pursue the comparison. — Reason is pro- 

 gressive ; not only from infancy to mature age, but 

 from one generation to another, as appears by the 

 progress from the savage state to that of a highly 

 civilized nation. In the first periods of society, men 

 only supply the absolute wants of nature : but, as 

 they advance, knowledge, founded on experience, 

 produces the rude beginnings of the sciences ; useful 

 discoveries are made, inventions are multiplied, and 

 the comforts of human life augmented. But the arts 

 of animals, if the expression is allowable, are always 

 stationary, and reach at once to perfection. Every 

 individual knows its proper business, without a model 



