CH. III.] ACTIONS OF INSTINCTS. 141 



and sensational or intellectual desires and aversions, and their 

 satisfaction, which have nothing further in common with the 

 instinct than that they are usually connected with and accom- 

 pany it. The spontaneous and voluntary song of birds, the 

 chirping of insects, the whine of dogs, &c., whereby they allure 

 to sexual congress, may be no more considered as direct sen- 

 tient actions of their instinct, than the suicide of a lover ; for 

 all these are sentient actions of voluntary resolves, induced 

 and occasioned in the mind by the instinct, but which may 

 certainly take place without it, although not usually. Gratifica- 

 tion of the instinct ends it (95). The intense longing then 

 ceases, the vital movements become quiescent, the sexual 

 organs return to their former condition, and they lose their 

 excitability, for the parts formerly distended and irritated have 

 become empty. But so long as the period of heat continues, 

 the natural inducements and the secondary conceptions accom- 

 panying them and the instinct, exercise a continually-renewed 

 influence on the mind and body of the animal, and often re- 

 excite the instinct, until at last, either from its repeated gra- 

 tification, or its enfeeblement (95), it is no longer re-excited, 

 and its natural inducements in accordance with the designs of 

 nature, lose their magical influence (263). Hence animals 

 allure to sexual congress during the whole period of heat, be- 

 cause their minds are continually occupied with secondary 

 conceptions and instincts, having reference to the predominant 

 instinct, derived from the natural inducements continually 

 acting, and from the sensational stimuli and instincts repeatedly 

 renewed. Hence also man even often desires amorously the 

 satisfaction of the instinct, and is inclined to solitude and 

 jealousy, so long as he is held in enchantment by the object of 

 his passion ; all which were impossible, if these conceptions, 

 with their actions, belonged to the gratification of the instinct, 

 and were its direct actions (94, 95). 



275. The gratification of the instinct is the actual de- 

 velopment of the foreseen sensation, and to attain which end 

 the conceptive force and the animal- sentient forces of the 

 instinct are excited (81, 90). The mental eifort consequently 

 ceases, and the sensational stimuli (pleasure or pain) are weakened 

 so soon as satisfaction is attained (83). Consequently, also, 

 the sentient actions cease, the vital movements return to 



