SECT. XVI. ii. OF INSTINCT. 187 



tuate, as it refts on the caprices, that are introdu- 

 ced into our minds by our various modes of educa- 

 tion. And thefe fluctuations of tafte mud become 

 more frequent in the prefent age, where mankind 

 have enfranchifed themfelves from the blind obedi- 

 ence to the rules of antiquity in perhaps every 

 fcience, but that of architecture. See Seel. XII. 



7- 1- 



XL There are many articles of knowledge, which 



the animals in cultivated countries feem to learn 

 very early in their lives, either from each other, or 

 from experience, or observation : one of the mod 

 general of thefe is to avoid mankind. There is fo 

 great a refemblancc in the natural language of the 

 paflions of all animals, that we generally know, 

 when they are in a pacific, or in a malevolent hu- 

 mour, they have the fame knowledge of us ; and 

 hence we can fcold them from us by fome tones and 

 geftures, and could poflibly attract them to us by 

 others, if they were not already apprized of our ge- 

 neral malevolence towards them. Mr. Gmelin, 

 Profeflbr at Peterfburg, allures us, that in his jour- 

 ney into Siberia, undertaken by order of the Em- 

 prefs of Ruflia, he faw foxes, that exprefled no fear 

 of himfelf or companions, but permitted him to 

 come quite near them^ having never feen the human 

 creature before. And Mr. Bougainville relates, 

 that at his arrival at the Malouine, or Falkland's 

 Iflands, which were not inhabited by men, all the 

 animals came about himfelf and his people ; the 

 fowls fettling upon their heads and fhoulders, and 

 the quadrupeds running about their feet. From the 

 difficulty of acquiring the confidence of old animals, 

 and the eafe of taming young ones, it appears that 

 the fear, they all conceive at the fight of mankind, 

 is an acquired article of knowledge. 



This knowledge is more nicely underftood by 

 rooks, who are formed into fodeties, and build, as 



O it 



