Supplementary Work. 95 



many of these peculiar processes in the vegetable 

 kingdom. The same instinct-like processes were 

 traced in the evolution of animals, that we might 

 find the exact point where Instinct comes in to car- 

 ry on the work which the structure and function of 

 organs both demand. We cited as the simplest in- 

 stance of Instinct, the act of the young bird just 

 from the shell, that lifts its head and opens its bill 

 to receive the food needful to carry on the work 

 thus far carried on by the use of the material in the 

 ^^%. The material in the ^^^ was just sufficient in 

 quantity and had the proper proportion of elements 

 to form the bird. The young bird came from the 

 shell with a structure capable of receiving food, 

 with an appetite to demand it and with an Instinct 

 to receive it from the mother as in the case of the 

 Robin, or to select and secure it for itself as in the 

 case of the young of the domestic fowls. 



And these three agencies, Structure, Function 

 and Instinct, were all ready to enter upon their 

 joint action at the same time. And the nature or 

 complexity of the Instinct varies with the complex- 

 ity of structure so as to exactly supplement it. If 

 this were not so the animal must die. So the won- 

 ders of Instinct are no greater than the wonders of 

 physiology in preparing and distributing food for 

 the building up of the system, or the wonders of 

 the eye that is ready for seeing without any knowl- 

 edge of optics on the part of its possessor. Instinct, 

 pure and distinct, in all its complexity, is as natural a 

 development according to fixed law, as wings or 

 teeth or claws according to the wants of the ani- 



