26 An Inquiry respecting 



firmly. Its unsteadiness disquieted the humble bees extremely. 

 Their affection for their young led them to mount upon the cocoons 

 for the sake of imparting warmth to the inclosed little ones, but 

 in attempting this the comb tottered so violently, that the scheme 

 was almost impracticable. To remedy this inconvenience, and to 

 make the comb steady they had recourse to a most ingenious expe*- 

 dient. Two or three bees got upon the comb, stretched them- 

 selves over its edge, and with their heads downwards fixed their 

 fore feet on the table upon which it stood, whilst with their hind 

 feet they kept it from falling. lu this constrained and painful pos- 

 ture, fresh bees relieving their comrades when weary, did these 

 affectionate little insects support the comb for nearly three days ! 

 at the end of this period they had prepared a sufficiency of wax 

 with which they built pillars that kept it in a firm position : but 

 by some accident afterwards these got displaced, when they had 

 again recourse to their former manoeuvre for supplying their place, 

 and this operation they perseveringly continued until M. Huber, 

 pitying their hard case, relieved them by fixing the object of their 

 attention firmly on the table. 



" It is impossible," the authors remark, " not to be struck with 

 the reflection that this most singular fact is inexplicable on the 

 supposition that insects are impelled to their operations by a blind 

 instinct alone. How could mere machines have thus provided for a 

 case which in a state of nature has probably never occurred to ten 

 nests of Humble-bees since the creation ? If in this instance these 

 little animals were not guided by a process of reasoning, what is 

 the distinction between reason and instinct ? How could the most 

 profound architect have better adapted the means to the end — how 

 more dexterously shored up a tottering edifice, until his beams and 

 his props were in readiness ?"* 



A process of reasoning, or intellectual deduction, is here cer- 

 tainly incontrovertible, but this, at the same time, is so much 

 beyond the nature and condition of the creature, that we cannot 

 suppose it performed within its proper consciousness. What then 

 in this case, and if in this case, in every other, is the distinction 

 between reason and instinct ? It is, I apprehend, this : — reason is 

 * Kiiby and Spencc, vol. i, p. 381, 



