l83 •" i^^ Instinct of animals. -^"g- /• 



how the voice of slander, ever so loud, cannot so much as 

 be heard. Think on such men j follow their steps, and 

 be happy I 



to be continued. 



Observations on the instinct of animals. 



From Reid''s efsays. 

 We come into the world ignorant of every thing, yet 

 we must domany things in order to our subsistence and well 

 being. A new-born child may be carried in arms, and kept 

 warm by his nurse ; but he must suck and swallow his food 

 for himself. And this must be done before he has any con- 

 ception of suckingand swallowing, or offhe mannerin which 

 they are to be performed. He is led by nature to do these 

 actions, without knowing for what end, or what he is a- 

 bout. This we call instinct. 



In the animals we are best acquainted with, and which 

 we look upon as the more perfect of the brute creation, 

 we see much the same instincts, or mechanical principles 

 of action, as in the human kind, or very similar ones, suit* 

 ed to the particular state and manner o! life of the ani- 

 mal. 



Besides these, there are, in brute animals, instincts pe- 

 culiar to each trioe, by which they are fitted for defence, 

 for offence, or for providing for themselves and for thciy 

 offspring. 



It is not more certain, that nature hath furniflied various 

 animals with various weapons of offence and defence, than 

 that the same nature hath taught them how to use them j 

 the bull and the ram to butt, the horse to kick, the dog 

 to bite, the lion to use his paws, the boar his tufks, the 

 serpent his fangs, and the bee and the wasp their sting. 



