CHAP. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTINCT. 7 



lowest development of instinct is probably seen in those 

 molluscous animals which are fixed to rocks, and merely 

 open their mouth, or their shelly covering, as does the 

 oyster, for the purpose of imbibing nourishment; the 

 instinct of the parent having prompted it to deposit its 

 eggs, or spawn, in such a locality, rather than upon a 

 soft muddy or sandy beach. The woodpecker is led to 

 alight upon the perpendicular bole of a tree, rather 

 than on the ground, because, in one situation, its scan- 

 sorial feet enable it to climb with rapidity, while, upon 

 the other, it could scarcely walk. Ascending by such 

 progressive steps as these, we may come to the elephant, 

 the honey-guide, and the bee, the most apparently 

 rational of the three most perfect orders of animals ; 

 and yet, in their ordinary habits, the same principle 

 holds good. There are, indeed, instances upon record, 

 of such extraordinary actions performed by animals, as 

 to induce the suspicion that a higher power of dis- 

 crimination, of judgment, or of forethought, had been 

 given to them, than what is ordinarily implied by the 

 term instinct ; yet, before we can confound such high 

 developments of this faculty with mind or reason, we 

 must well consider the perfections of these latter, and 

 the necessary consequences which result from their pos- 

 session. We know not, indeed, the limits of instinct; 

 but we know full well, inductively, by natural religion, 

 and, assuredly, by revealed, that man, who alone en- 

 joys reason, is, consequently, an accountable being : 

 and no theorist will go so far as to suppose that the 

 same may be said of a bee, or an oyster ! 



(10.) The operations of instinct are limited to those 

 circumstances which tend only to keep the species in 

 the same state of intelligence (so to speak) in which it 

 was born. There is no progressive advancement, in 

 succeeding generations, by which a higher advance is 

 made, either by the communication of experience, or 

 the effects of example, in higher animals. Each species 

 has its own limited range ; and there its powers cease. 

 The ox, which "knew his master's crib," and followed 

 B 4 



