308 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



constitution will be observed, not in degree merely, but in 

 knuL Again, if we compare the instincts of brutes, consi- 

 dered as consisting of the efforts both of their active and in- 

 tellectual powers, with the reason of man, in his savage state, 

 in which the operations of his active powers are chiefly con- 

 spicuous, we shall be led to conclude, that there is no diffe- 

 rence in kind between reason and instinct, and if we form 

 our conception of this instinct, from its collective prominent 

 qualities, derived from all the different species of animals, 

 we shall be tempted to conclude, that the power which 

 regulates the manners of the inferior animals, is even su- 

 perior to the boasted reason of man *. 



It would serve no good end to produce particular exam- 

 ples from the writings of the most eminent cultivators of 

 moral and natural science, to prove that the terms Reason 

 and Instinct have had assigned to them such varied and 

 indefinite significations ; for there is no author whose ob- 

 servations on this subject we have had an opportunity of 

 examining, who has been sufficiently careful to avoid the 

 cohfusion. 



If we restrict the term Reason, then, to express the 

 operations of our intellectual powers, and inquire, is there 

 any thing analogous in the constitution of brutes ; and re- 

 strict the term Instinct to express the operations of our 

 active powers, and make a similar comparison, we shall be 

 abl6 to point out, not only wherein the difference between 

 reason and instinct consists, but between man and the lower 

 animals, in reference to mental attainments. The solution, 

 indeed, of the whole difficulty, appears to us to be obtain- 

 ed by this simple limitation of the terms. 



* There is evidently a much greater difference between a citizen and a 

 savage, than between a savage and many of the lower animals. But still 

 we are to bear m mind, the unlimited capacity of the one for improvement, 

 and the limited capacity of the other. 



