174 Instinct, 



self, through that free Intelligence, by which he 

 must guide himself, or fall below the brutes ? 



As a means of rendering results almost mechan- 

 ically uniform among animals, even when they fol- 

 low their impulses, we find the most important 

 functions only periodically active ; and so far as we 

 know, no harm comes to one animal more than to an- 

 other, while in his natural state, from following the 

 impulse of his appetites to the full extent of their 

 demand. He can be deceived, as we shall show ; 

 but he is injured by being deceived, thus gratifying 

 his appetite on the wrong substance, and not be- 

 cause he indulged his appetite to too great an ex- 

 tent. 



In man, the appetites have but a slight self-reg- 

 ulating power, — they need control and restraint from 

 their possessor, — while among animals they are per- 

 fectly self-regulating by the periodicity and strength 

 of the functions that originate them. And as in- 

 stinctive action, so far as the appetites are concern- 

 ed, simply supplements function, of course it never 

 goes beyond the proper bound ; because the appe- 

 tite gives it no occasion for going beyond that 

 bound. 



What we mean then when we say that Instinct 

 is a law for the animal is, that those original princi- 

 ples of action in him, which were given as his first 

 outfit in life, always control him in the main ; expe- 

 rience doing but little in directing the course of life, 

 though it may do much in conducting it to a suc- 

 cessful issue in that course. The instinctive prin- 

 ciples guide the animal in its action, to that which 



