146 SALMONIA. [FIFTH DAT. 



to a piece of mechanism, which could only be the work 

 of an intelligent mind ; but there is this difference : 

 in all the productions of nature, the principle, not only 

 of perfection, but likewise of conservation, is found, 

 marking a species of intelligence and power which can 

 be compared to nothing human. The first created 

 swarm of bees contained beings provided with a!l the 

 instincts necessary for the perpetual continuance of 

 the species ; and some of these instincts can scarcely 

 be understood by man, requiring the most profound 

 geometrical knowledge, even to calculate their results ; 

 and other instincts involve what in human society 

 would be the most singular state of policy, combining 

 contrasted moral causes and contradictory interests. 

 It is impossible not to be lost in awe at the contempla- 

 tion of this chain of facts ; the human mind cannot 

 fail to acknowledge in them the strongest proofs of 

 their being produced by infinite wisdom and unbounded 

 power ; and the devout philosopher can scarcely avoid 

 considering with respect a little insect, endowed with 

 faculties producing combinations, which human reason 

 vainly attempts to imitate, and can scarcely understand. 

 PHYS. I agree with you, that if instinct be supposed 

 the result of organisation, and that the first animal 

 types were so created as to transmit their instincts 

 invariably generation after generation, it does offer a 

 most triumphant and incontrovertible argument for 



