366 Mr. French's Inquiry/ concerning Instinct. 



Intelligence operative in the mind of Man should be represented 

 around him in the world he inhabits :* — That from the varied in- 

 fluence of these principles the different subjects of the Brute Crea- 

 tion derive each their peculiar disposition and character. 



In this manner it appears to me that the World of Mind is in 

 action upon, and in connection with, the World of Nature : — the 

 whole being under the controul of the Supreme Being ; whose 

 Wisdom is displayed in the permission of lesser disorders and 



* Mr. W. S. Mac Leay, while examining the theory in which the brain of 

 the inferior animals, or the ganglions which obtain that name, is supposed to 

 be acted upon by the volition of the Deity, and which theory has already been 

 noticed, (p. 350) observes, that it can only have one foundation, " which is far 

 from being weak or easily subverted," and which he states as follows: " It is 

 that this planet and its contents were created for the sole use and instruction 

 of man, who is thus the end of the terrestrial creation. Principio ipse mundus 

 Deorum hominumque causa f actus est: qutcque in eo sunt omnia, ea parata ad 

 fructum hominum et inventi sunt." And after controverting that theory by the 

 argument already examined, he continues, " To me such an argument appears 

 insurmountable ; but I confess its force is very much weakened by the reflec- 

 tion, that the basis of the opposed doctrine is, that every thing we see is 

 intended for our instruction, either with respect to the Divine nature or the 

 human. Now it is manifestly possible to place to this account, not only the 

 apparent consequences of injuries in animals, but all the phaenomena they 

 may present." 



The Rev. W. Kirby, in his excellent Address, explanatory of the views of 

 the Zoological Club, delivered at its foundation in November last, when ad- 

 verting to the propriety of gentlemen' endeavouring to elucidate natural groups 

 whilst engaged in naming and describing the non-descrlpt animals which their 

 cabinets contain, alludes to the necessity of their keeping in mind the dis- 

 tinction pointed out by Mr. Mac Leay, between affinity and analo[;y; and 

 after referring to the numberless instances in which the Naturalist will see the 

 " simulation of affinity where the reality of it does not exist," also alludes to 

 the subject of this note, by remarking, " From this part of the plan of the 

 Creator we may gather, I think, that every thing has its meaning as well 

 as its use.'^ 



I am much gratified to find in these views, of two such eminent Naturalists, 

 a strong corroboration of the sentiment contained in the above proposition, 

 and expressed in the commencement of my preliminary Essay, that the various 

 objects of Creation are of a symbolic nature; in which sentiment that which 

 regards Man as the end of the Creation is also implied. Every additional 

 step which is gained by Science, whilst exploring the " mystic labyrinths" 

 of nature, elicits, I conceive, fresh evidence to this effect. 



