DIFFERENT KINDS OF INSTINCT. 115 



' These are but a few examples of instinct : many others, 

 more curious and interesting, will be found in the different 

 chapters of this work, which treats of other subjects con- 

 nected with the character and history of animals.' 



The notion that animals are machines, is perhaps too ab- 

 surd to merit refutation. Though no animal is endowed with 

 mental powers equal to those of man, yet there is not a faculty 

 of the human mind, but evident marks of its existence are 

 to be found in particular animals. Senses, memory, imagi- 

 nation, the principle of imitation, curiosity, cunning, ingenu- 

 ity, devotion, or respect for superiors, gratitude, are all dis- 

 coverable in the brute creation. Neither is art denied tc 

 them. They build in various styles; they dig; they wage 

 war ; they extract peculiar substances from water, from plants, 

 from the earth ; they modulate their voices so as to commu- 

 nicate their wants, their sentiments, their pleasures and pains, 

 their apprehensions of danger, and their prospects of future 

 good. Every species has its own language. They ask and 

 give assistance to each other. They speak of their necessi- 

 ties ; and this branch of their language is more or less ex- 

 tended, in proportion to the number of their wants. Ges- 

 tures and inarticulate sounds are the signs of their thoughts. 

 It is necessary that the same sentiment should produce the 

 same sounds and the same movements; and, consequently, 

 each individual of a species must have the same organization. 

 Birds and quadrupeds, accordingly, are incapable of holding 

 discourse to each other, or communicating the ideas and feel- 

 ings they possess in common. The language of gesture pre- 

 pares for that of articulation ; and some animals are capable 

 of acquiring a knowledge of articulate sounds. They first 

 judge of our thoughts by our gestures; and afterwards ac- 

 quire the habit of connecting these thoughts with the lan- 

 guage in which we express them. It is in this manner that 

 the elephant and the dog learn to obey the commands of their 

 masters. 



. Infants are exactly in the same condition with brutes. 

 They understand some of our gestures and words long before 

 they can articulate. They discover their wants by gestures 

 and inarticulate sounds, the meaning of which the nurse 

 learns by experience. Different infants have different modes 

 of expressing their wants. This is the reason why nurses 

 know the intentions of infants, though they are perfectly un- 



