223 INSTINCT: 



follows : (1) They are always performed by individuals 

 of the same species in nearly, if not in exactly, the same 

 manner. (2) No experience or education is required in 

 order that the different voluntary efforts requisite for these 

 actions may follow one another with unerring precision. 

 (3) They are occasionally seen to be performed under cir- 

 cumstances which the onlooker (having regard to the ends 

 usually accomplished by the acts) recognizes as rendering 

 them nugatory. 



In illustration of the first and second peculiarities, the 

 following quotation from Bichat may be cited. He said : 

 " If we examine different animals at the moment of 

 birth, we shall see that the special instinct of each directs 

 the execution of peculiar movements. Young quadrupeds 

 seek the mammae of their mothers, birds of the order 

 (rallinaceoe seize immediately the grain which is their 

 appropriate nourishment, while the young of the carnivor- 

 ous birds merely open their mouths to receive the food 

 which their parents bring to their nests." 



The third peculiarity exemplifies the * blindness of 

 Instinct,' and may be illustrated by the fact that Blow-flies 

 often deposit their eggs on a plant (Clienopodium fcetida) 

 whose odour resembles decaying meat, though it is quite 

 unsuitable as a nidus for such eggs ; or by the fact that 

 the Bee gathers and stores up honey even in a climate 

 where there is no winter ; by the fact that a Hen will con- 

 tinue to sit on a pebble which has been put in the place 

 of an egg, and that she shows the same kind of solicitude 

 for ducklings that have been hatched under her as she 

 would for chickens produced from her own eggs. 



Some powers and instincts (a) are connate: that is, 

 the animals are capable of manifesting them almost 

 immediately after birth, and without the occurrence of 



