350 Some Speculathns oji the Nuliire of Jiislhut. 



expect benefit from a second operation, and applications of* 

 af)ainfiil kind slioiild be avoided as nuich as possible. Art 

 dues not appear to be capable of doing more than to palliate 

 tbe violent symptoms j by anodyne remedies, by evacua- 

 tions local or general, and bv tonic medicine-;, when the 

 state of the general health renders these expedient. 



LXIII. Some Specidatlons on the Nature of Instinct. Eif 

 Arthur Mower, Esq. 



[No. II.] 



J. HAT great portion of nature which we call the animal 

 kino-dom, may be considered as consisting of two great di- 

 \-isions ; the one embracing human beings destined by their 

 Creator for another state of existence, and the other com- 

 prehending everv other living creature, whether beast or 

 bi.'J, fish or insect; — the lion and the ephemera, the 

 eaofle and the smallest of the finny tribe; — beings, whose 

 consciousness we suppose to cease when they cease to 

 breatiie. When we consider the different varieties of the 

 liuman species, and reflect on the different manners and cus- 

 toms of each nation and tribe of men vho dwell upon the 

 earth, we shall find, that however great the difference pro- 

 duced bv civilization between one man and another, those 

 constitutional laws by which we are governed are in every 

 clime invariably the same. The natural wants of tlie Euro- 

 pean are the same with those of the most untutored fndian; 

 thev have the same appetites, the same passions; but in 

 one, those passions are so modified, coloured, and refined 

 bv luxury, as almost to lose their original simplicity ; whilst 

 in the other we see nature undisguised by art, and con- 

 Trolled onlv by ber own laws. Between savages and Eu- 

 ropeans, as between dift'erent individuals in every nation, 

 there appears to exist some natural mental inferiority. 

 Attempts which have been made to civilize individuals of 

 the Hottentot nation, have, as it is well known, completely 

 failed. Their muids, unusually contracted, seem to be inca- 

 pable of cultivation ; or only fitted to receive sucli simple 

 iilcas as are conducive to the wants and comforts of a sa- 

 vage life! On a first view, indeed, there is apparently very 

 little difference, or mental superiority, between individuals 

 of the brute and the human species: their actions seem to 

 be reirulated by the same laws, and their desires anil appe- 

 tites to be produced bv one common principle. If we com- 

 pare to"-elher the savage, whose pleasures and desires are 



confined 



