INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE 89 



to work in his own systematic way, as the elephant 

 above quoted did. If not the outcome of reason, what 

 else is it ? The feeling of fear is possibly due exclusively 

 to the mere inherent instinct of self-preservation ; but 

 in such case what would be the consequence ? No 

 animal in the face of peril would budge an inch, and 

 then force would have to be used to oblige him 

 to do so. But when they do so without force, in the 

 face of all this, something more than instinct must be 

 at the bottom of it. For, after all, what is instinct Definition 



of instinct 



but an impromptu, unreasoned prompting or instiga- 

 tion, a natural spontaneous impetus or impulse in an 

 animal to act, or to carry out certain conditions, which 

 are indispensable and essential for its existence, pro- 

 pagation, and preservation, an effort which is solely an 

 outcome of natural laws, independent of instruction and 

 experience ; while reason is the special power of the ^^ 

 faculty of thought. 



Darwin, speaking on the difference between the Difference 



betweeti 



two, says : ' No doubt it is often difficult to distinguish the two 

 between the power of reason and that of instinct. . . . 

 We can only judge by the circumstances under which 

 actions are performed whether they are due to instinct 

 or to reason, or to the mere association of ideas ; this 

 latter principle, however, is intimately connected with 

 reason.' Without in any way presuming to differ with 

 the great naturalist, it always appeared to me that, 

 under the circumstances, and with the class of animals 

 that I am alluding to, the distinction between the two 

 forces was clear enough ; in fact, reason invariably 

 followed after instinct. In other w r ords, the initial 

 instigation to avoid a certain danger was often due to 



