Influence of Experience » 173 



mal, since they cannot be comprehended by him 

 Just in proportion as we find men leaving out of 

 consideration the experience of the past and the 

 prospects of the future, do we find almost a brute- 

 like uniformity of action among them ; as is seen 

 in the lowest savage tribes; and just in proportion 

 as we see among animals, any mingling of the mem- 

 ories of the past with their present impressions, do 

 we see a want of uniform action among members 

 of the same species. All that we can then say is, 

 that in animals, structure, function, and that part 

 of Instinct which supplements them, are so strong 

 that they move on together, giving the same re- 

 sults in all animals of the same species ; or so near- 

 ly the same results, that the changes produced in 

 instinctive life by experience, as peculiar to each 

 animal, are as the perturbations of the planets in 

 their course, so small that they do not interfere 

 with the general result ; and unless the perturba- 

 tion occurs in the same quarter and is often repeat- 

 ed, it never accumulates to a sum sufficient to at- 

 tract attention, except by the most careful inspec- 

 tion. We speak now of animals in their free state ; 

 and not of that abnormal condition to which the 

 influence of man may reduce them. 



The result is uniform, because all the influences 

 of experience are, with animals, mainly subordinate 

 to that high wisdom, which we call Instinct ; a wis- 

 dom given to the animal for his guidance, doing 

 the work which the human race can do only by 

 hard experience and patient thought. When will 

 man reach like uniform and happy results for him 



