12 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. I, 



and of wisdom, the accumulated results of thoughtful 

 experience and calm deliberation. 



(14.) One would imagine that such a picture as this 

 and they are thickly dispersed in the pages of human 

 history would force upon the conviction of every 

 unbeliever, the immortality of mind, and of the reason- 

 ing faculty. If these were the same as instinct, where 

 would be the necessity of preserving them in vigour, 

 when all the rest of the human economy is hastening to 

 decay ? The whole of the animal races show us that 

 every thing is perfection in its kind ; that, so soon as one 

 part of the animal frame begins to decay, all the others 

 evince the same propensity ; and that no one creature 

 exhibits a deviation from this rule, but that which has 

 been pronounced the most perfect MAN. Old age 

 deadens all the animal faculties, but leaves the mental 

 sound, hale, and even in a yet expanding progress ; the 

 oil burns with brightness, while the earthen lamp that 

 contains it is fast mouldering to its parent dust. Why 

 is this inconsistency? Clearly, because the one is inde- 

 structible, and the other perishable. The former is still 

 to grow on in another and a brighter world, unshackled 

 by a companionship with animal instincts. The time 

 of its probation, uninfluenced by the state of the body, 

 arrives, and it is then to receive its reward or its 

 punishment, according as it has been exercised to con- 

 trol the animal instincts, or to become their slave. 



(15.) The ultimate objects of reason are clearly those 

 pointed to in the last paragraph; but the right use of 

 it can only be learned by revelation. The past and 

 present history of the human race shows us, that, with- 

 out this guide, the most perverted uses have been, and 

 are now, daily made of this faculty. The savage, in- 

 deed, reasons with himself according to the degree of 

 development which this power has attained in his mind ; 

 and we know, by daily experience, in others, if not in 

 ourselves, how much the faculty may be enlarged. 

 Nevertheless, the usages, the customs, and the pre- 

 judices of every nation oppose insuperable obstacles to a 



