238 Instinct. 



of them may serve more than one of these pur- 

 poses. 



The instincts of the animal, so far as they seem to 

 relate to his own welfare, appear to be confined main- 

 ly, if not entirely, to the first class, — those that pre- 

 serve life, — securing to him, of course, so much enjoy- 

 ment as comes by the normal activity of his powers 

 which never secure progress through the agency ot 

 their possessor alone. There the animal stops ; but 

 these instincts of the first class, in man, are but the 

 stepping-stone to a higher nature, to the very sum- 

 mit of which, like principles of action, seem to be 

 needed, and to exist. Certain it is, that man has 

 the power to throw down over these instincts, 

 which he has in common with the brutes, so much 

 of his higher nature, that they become dignified, 

 lovely, and the source of happiness, reacting upon, 

 and aiding all that is above them ; or he may aban- 

 don these instincts to their own uncontrolled ac- 

 tion, so that they shall work out a degradation im- 

 possible among the brutes. 



We have spoken of the appetites as the first 

 condition, of the exercise of those instincts, which 

 tend to preserve life. There may be certain reflex- 

 ive acts which have been mistaken for instinctive, 

 but probably all will agree that a truly instinctive 

 act involves volition in some stage of its history. 

 Every voluntary act that aims at some relation with 

 the external world, would seem to involve some 

 notion of the existence of such a world. We re- 

 gard this notion of the existence of an external 

 world as given, as the instincts are, — the essential 



