94 Instinct, 



is brought Into play, it is a very natural thing to re- 

 fer such acts to Intelligence in the actor, which 

 adapts means to ends through a comprehension of 

 both ends and means. Great confusion has arisen 

 from a failure to understand that the first introduc- 

 tion of Intelligence, while it widens the sphere of 

 action, always renders wise results less certain in 

 the beginning than they are in the sphere of pure 

 Instinct. Instinct can be cheated, as we shall show, 

 at the proper time, but it is only in the sphere of 

 Intelligence that mistakes and blunders are the 

 common result, until experience w^hips the being of 

 IntelHgence into the right road. Pure Instinct 

 needs no experience. It goes before to preserve 

 life until knowledge from experience is possible. 

 And in this work of preserving life where experi- 

 ence could not be secured, it often performs wise 

 acts, — just such acts as in beings of Intelligence are 

 performed only after individual experience or in- 

 struction from the experience of others. We must 

 throw aside at once then that notion that an act of 

 wisdom and intelligence is absolute proof that the 

 wisdom and intelligence reside in the actor. That 

 question can only be determined by considering the 

 conditions under which the act is performed. The 

 best corrective to these hasty conclusions that have 

 been formed respecting the nature of Instinct in 

 animals, from the kind of acts it secures, is found 

 in the careful study of those operations performed 

 by plants ; because in them, there is no danger of 

 being misled so as to ascribe wisdom to the actor. 

 This is one reason why we have pointed out so 



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