J16 DIFFERENT KINDS OF INSTINCT. 



intelligible to strangers. When an infant, accordingly, is trans- 

 ferred from one nurse to another, the former instructs the 

 latter in the gestures and inarticulate language of the child. 



The idea of a machine implies a select combination of the 

 common properties of matter. The regularity of its move- 

 ments is a proof that they are totally distinct from animal or 

 spontaneous motion. A machine has nothing analogous to 

 sensation, which is the lowest characteristic of an animal. 

 An animated machine, therefore, is an absurd abuse of terms. 

 It confounds what nature has distinguished in the most unam- 

 biguous manner. 



Brutes, like men, learn to see objects in their proper posi- 

 tion, to judge of distances and heights, and of hurtful, pleas- 

 urable, or indifferent bodies. Without some portion of reason, 

 therefore, they could never acquire the faculty of making 

 a proper use of their senses. A dog, though pressed with 

 hunger, will not seize a piece of meat in the presence of his 

 master, unless it be given to him ; but, with his eyes, his 

 movements, and his voice, he makes the most humble and ex- 

 pressive petition. If this balancing of motives be not reason- 

 ing, by what other name can it be called ? 



Animals, recently after birth, know not how to avoid dan- 

 ger. Neither can they make a proper use of their members. 

 But experience soon teaches them what is pleasant and what 

 is painful, what objects are hurtful and what salutary. A 

 young cat or a dog, which has had no experience of leaping 

 from a height, will, wjthout hesitation, precipitate itself from 

 the top of a high wall. But, after perceiving that certain 

 heights are hurtful, and others inoffensive, the animal learns 

 to make the distinction, and never afterwards can be prevailed 

 upon to leap from a height which it knows will be produc- 

 tive of pain. 



Young animals examine every object they meet with. In 

 this investigation they employ all their organs. The first 

 periods of their life are dedicated to study. When they run 

 about, and make frolicsome gambols, it is nature sporting 

 with them for their instruction. In this manner they improve 

 their faculties and organs, and acquire an intimate knowledge 

 of the objects which surround them. Men who, from pecu- 

 liar circumstances, have been prevented from mingling with 

 companions, and engaging in the different amusements and 

 exercises of youth, are always awkward in their movements, 

 cannot use their organs with ease or dexterity, and often con- 

 tinue, during life, ignorant of the most common objects. 



