CHAP. VII.] THE BRUTE. 201 



the bird sitting on her unhatched progeny do we not meet 

 with, and yet this constancy is said to be promoted by some 

 thing very different from maternal tenderness ! In truth, a 

 multitude of branching arteries and veins furnish such an 

 abundance of blood to the bird s breast as to cause it to seek 

 in the contact of the eggs a refreshing sensation. Cabanis 

 and Duges tell us * that if a capon be plucked in that region 

 which is naturally bare in a sitting hen, and if an irritating 

 substance be applied to the part so stripped, then not only 

 will the local inflammation cause the capon to seek the con 

 tact of eggs and to sit, but even to act maternally to the 

 young when they come to be hatched. 



But the distinction in kind between Instinct and .Reason is 



shown both by the fact that the former is not able instinct can 

 not perform 



to do things specially characteristic of the latter, rational acts. 

 and by the fact that it can do other things for which reason, 

 under such circumstances, would be impotent. Thus, no 

 animals employ rational language, nor do they deliberately 

 act in mutual concert, nor make use of antecedent expe 

 riences to intentionally improve upon the past. Apes are 

 said, like dogs and cats, to warm themselves with pleasure at 

 deserted fires, yet, though they see wood burning, they are 

 unable to add fresh fuel for their comfort. Swallows will 

 continue to build on a house which they can see has begun 

 to be demolished. Flies will deposit their eggs on a carrion 

 plant instead of on animal matter. The hymenopterous 

 insects show us, perhaps, the most wonderful and complex of 

 all insects, and yet Sir John Lubbock has f demonstrated, by 

 careful and interesting experiments, that there is such an 

 habitual absence of any intercommunication between them 

 as to facts, as to fairly lead to the inference that their com 

 munications concern their feelings only. 



But Instinct can do things impossible to Keason. Thus, 

 chickens newly hatched will so correctly adjust their move- 



* Eapports du Physique et du Moral, Ed. i. p. 127. 



t See two truly admirable Papers read before the Linnean Society on the 

 19th of March and 17th of December, 187-1. 



