110 INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



he is not entirely destitute of it. His knowledge is, for the 

 most part, the result of his own experience and observation, 

 or that of others which has been communicated to him, and 

 his actions are guided by the knowledge thus acquired. The 

 infant is consequently more helpless and imbecile than the 

 young of other animals, and is long in acquiring the same 

 comparative degree of dexterity and cunning. 



' In animals possessed of both intellect and instinct in a 

 considerable degree, they modify and assist the operation of 

 each other, and often give to these animals the appearance of 

 much higher exertions of thought than they can really lay 

 claim to. Thus the instinct of the beaver in building his 

 habitation, is in some measure guided and modified by his 

 experience and observation. He accommodates its structure 

 to the peculiar situation of the place he has fixed upon, and 

 the circumstances of the surrounding country ; and this has 

 induced some to believe that the whole process on the part 

 of this animal belongs to the understanding. But it is more 

 probable that instinct is the main guide, whilst reason aids 

 and modifies its operation. The want of ^is aiding and 

 modifying influence of the rational principle, is shown in 

 many remarkable instances among the lower orders of animals, 

 which possess it only to a small extent. Thus the instinct of 

 the honey-bees prompts them to preserve their queen on all 

 occasions from injury or from escape ; but under some cir- 

 cumstances, it leads tnem to measures for effecting this pur- 

 pose, which are so violent as to destroy her. The instinct of 

 the flesh-fly induces it to deposit its eggs in putrid meat ; but, 

 deceived by the smell of a particular plant, which exactly 

 resembles that of carrion, they hover around it, and deposit 

 them on its leaves, where they can never come to perfection. 

 Experience and observation, had these insects been capable 

 of them, would have directed them to avoid these destructive 

 consequences. . 



The difference between an animal governed almost wholly 

 by instinct, and one principally under the direction of reason, 

 can be in no way more strikingly illustrated, than by compar- 

 ing the habitations of man with those of lower animals. The 

 dwellings of man differ in all ages and countries. In his 

 savage state, they are less perfect than the nests of birds, the 

 huts of the beaver, or the cells of bees ; in the cultivated 

 stages of society, they are, it is unnecessary to say, almost 

 infinitely more perfect. His are always varying, while theirs 

 are always the same, and improve by experience and obser- 



