INSTINCTS. 173 



ed upon the constitution of the animal. For, first, what 

 should induce the female bird to prepare a nest before she 

 lays her eggs'? It is in vain to suppose her to be possess- 

 ed of the faculty of reasoning; for no reasoning will reach 

 the case. The fulness or distention which she might feel 

 in a particular part of her body, from the growth and so- 

 lidity of the egg within her, could not possibly inform her, 

 that she was about to produce something, which, when pro- 

 duced, was to be preserved and taken care of Prior to 

 experience, there was nothing to lead to this inference, or 

 to this suspicion. The analogy was all against it ; for in 

 every other instance, what issued from the body was cast 

 out and rejected. 



But, secondly, let us suppose the egg to be produced 

 into day ; how should birds know that their eggs contain 

 their young ; there is nothing either in the aspect, or in the 

 internal composition of an egg, which could lead even the 

 most daring imagination to a conjecture, that it was here- 

 after to turn out, from under its shell, a living, perfect 

 bird. The form of the egg bears not the rudiments of a 

 resemblance to that of the bird. Inspecting its contents, 

 we find still less reason, if possible, to look for the result 

 which actually takes place. If we should go so far, as, 

 from the appearance of order and distinction in the dis- 

 position of the liquid substances which we noticed in the 

 egor, to o;uess that it might be designed for the abode and 

 nutriment of an animal, (which would be a very bold hy- 

 pothesis,) we should expect a tadpole dabbling in the slime, 

 much rather than a dry, winged, feathered creature ; a 

 compound of parts and properties impossible to be used in 

 a state of confinement in the egg, and bearing no conceiv- 

 able relation, either in quality or material, to any thing ob- 

 served in it. From the white of an egg, would any one 

 look for the feathers of a goldfinch 1 or expect from a sim- 

 ple uniform mucilage, the most complicated of all ma- 

 chines, the most diversified of all collections of substances ? 

 nor would the process of mcubation, for some time at least, 

 lead us to suspect the event. Who that saw red streaks, 

 shooting in the fine membrane which divides the white 

 from the yolk, would suppose that these were about to be- 

 come bones and limbs? Who, that espied two discoloured 

 points first making their appearance in the cicatrix, would 

 have had the courage to predict, that these points were to 

 grow into the heart and head of a bird 1 It is difficult to 



a 



